Blood and Bullets
by maryking
Summary: When your good at taking bullets, who's going to be the opposite you attract? So, I'm not that good at summaries but read and let me know what you think promise it's better than it seems : xo
1. Chapter 1

**So this idea has been rolling around in the back of my head for a while so I decided to finally bite the bullet and start writing. Hope you enjoy :)**

**Declaimer: I don't own anything you realise.**

Chapter 1

The irrefutable roar of a Harley could be heard from the yard, the sound caused me to look up from the engine I was working on only to see Tig was looking in the same direction as I was.

"We were expecting company?" I ask Tig, cocking my eyebrow in question. With a shrug of his shoulders he threw down his tools, turning and walked out off the shop.

I started to follow Tig out of the shop, Juice and Opie trailing along behind me. As we stepped out into the light of the yard I spotted the source of the sound and the hot woman straddling it.

"Claire?" Tig's surprised voice pulled me away from looking at the _disturbance _and made me look at him. The usually stony face of Charming's Sergeant at Arms had a look of genuine surprise as he stared at the girl sitting in front of us.

"Tig," _Claire _spoke as she stepped down off her bike, taking her sunglasses off and placing them high up on her head, "Hunny, how've you been?" The more she spoke the more you could make out her thick Irish accent.

As she started to move towards Tig I couldn't help but give her an involuntary once over. She wore tight, dark wash blue jeans with black, leather shit kickers that came up nearly to her knees; I was able to make out the small outline of a pistol in her left boot from where I stood, _girl carries, most be important, _I thought with a mental shrug. She lifted her arms up to wrap them around Tig's neck, returning the hug he was giving her and as she wrapped her arms tight around his neck the sun glinted of the mass of chains wrapped around her thin, pale wrist, I also noticed that the sun was glinting of the blood red polish she seemed to have on her nails. Just as I looked up so did the girl, as I met her eyes I was shocked by how crystal blue they were even from the distance we were apart. They looked so piercing but that was probably the effect she was going for seeing she had framed her eyes with thick lines of black eyeliner, her left eye partially covered by her blonde, choppy fringe giving her a more mysterious look.

"So," She started as she stepped back from Tig's embrace and removed her gaze from mine, "You gona' tell me where that uncle of mine is? Or do I gota' go find him? Pretty sure him and Clay would lov' a wee report 'bout how the Belfast Charter's fairing."

"Aye they would," Chib's Scottish accent called across the yard from the door of the club house, the smile on his face was as clear as day.

"Uncle Philip!" The kid yelled, then I watched as they girl flew across the yard only to jump into the waiting arms of Chib's, linking her legs tight round his waist and her arms around his neck and looking like she wasn't getting down for awhile.

"So what's the story there then?" I asked quietly as I drew level with Tig and where he stood.

"That brother, "Tig started as he pointed at the girl, "Is Chib's niece." I heard the hesitation that seemed to have crept into Tig's voice before he continued. "She also happens to be the Belfast Charters president's baby girl, only girl actually."

"So what's she doing here then?" I growled, Tig was never this vague, he was always bluntly honest and his vagueness was starting to piss me off.

"She normally works protection for the club," He said with a shake off his head.

"Then what business does she have here? We got no need for her shit!" I was protection here and some little girl from Ireland wasn't going to take over that even if she was a daughter of a Charters president.

"Calm down," Tig spoke never looking away from Chib's and the girl, "She won't be taking over your job so get of you high horse before you fucking fall off it." He let out a deep sign before he continued, "How old were you when you first took a bullet for SAMCRO and the club?"

"It was just after I patched in, I was 'bot twenty-four," I answered honestly even though I had no idea where this was going or what it was leading to.

"She was twelve," Tig turned to me with his blank face back in place, but his eyes showed the sincerity of his words. "Kid took her first bullet for the club at the age of twelve; she saved their bloody Sergeant at Arms!" There was anger in his words, and I couldn't work out if it was for the girl or for the Sergeant at Arms.

"Explain," I ordered, I needed to know what the hell had caused a twelve year old girl to get shot, I also had this weird need to go out and find the sick bastard that decided to shoot said twelve year old girl.

"A group of people came into the Belfast club house looking for the princess, thought they'd use Claire as leverage and get money, territory, guns the usual shit out of the Charter," As Tig spoke I watched as Claire stood strong and proud as she talked away to Chib's and Gemma who had now joined the pair, amazed at what this girl had been through in her short life as she barely looked twenty-one. "Most of the brothers were out on a run, there was only a few mechanics and the Sergeant at Arms there, he was looking after Claire, best person to look after the princess wouldn't you think," Tig finished with a chuckle. "They were tearing the place apart looking for her; clever thing had hid herself under the bar, so that when the guy holding the gun to the Sergeant turned round she could run out and cut the ropes binding the guy. She got as far as given him the blade before the guy turned round." He paused and I thought he had finished but then his eyes darkened and he continued, "She killed three of those fucks before one who had been hiding shot her, hit her in the shoulder." As he finished the menacing tone in his voice was so dark that any weak minded man would have ran from him.

"What happened after?" I had to know what happened or I was about to fly my ass to Ireland and find the people who shot her.

"The Sergeant destroyed the guy who shot her, took his time with the rest of them after he had taken Claire to the hospital and gathered the rest of them together."

"Good," We fell into a comfortable silence until we heard clay calling us to church.

After thrown my phone into the box I walked into the chapel, firstly noticing that the girl sat beside Chib's at the table before I sat my ass down in my seat at the end of the table and then I noticed the odd expression on Clay's face as he sat heavily in his chair.

"Brothers," Clay called, causing us all to quiet down waiting for him to begin. "I know ya'll going to be wondering who this little lady is so I'm going tell you." He paused looking around the table, finally settling on the girl in question I noticed who gave him a slight nod before he continued. "This is Claire," He spoke, lifting her hand in her direction and waved slightly, "Happens to be Chib's niece and the daughter of the Belfast Charter's president." He paused again to rub his head as if a sudden pain had gone through it. "And now she's going to explain why the hell she's here 'cause I have no idea!" She only raised one well shaped eyebrow in response to Clay; it was her only action that actually showed that she had heard Clay.

"Can't a girl just be driving in the area?" A chuckle ran through the room before she continued, "I'm here to warn you that Jimmy might be turning up around here in a couple of days, might be coming to demand something he thinks you might have taken."

"What the fuck is happening?" Clay snarled at her across the table.

"The daughter and the misses are stateside," Claire directed her answer towards Chib's not Clay and it didn't go unnoticed.

"I asked you the damn question Claire!" Clay roared as he banged his first down on the desk, compared to Clay, Chib's was pale white and very calm.

"Just because you asked me a question Clay, doesn't mean I answer to you." Claire smiled smugly at Clay as he fumed quietly, it was as if she knew something that guarantied she was safe from Clay's anger.

"Why'd you get'em out?" Chib's normally load voice was quiet as he spoke.

"I didn't," She answered as she lay back in her chair. "I was told to make sure she got stateside safely but from what I've heard and been told they left Ireland on their own free will and that they did it to escape from Jimmy."

"He knows every move they make; how the hell did they manage to keep him out of the loop?" Trust Juice to ask the technical questions, granted Chib's had barely breathed since Claire had admitted his wife and child where stateside and Clay looked pissed enough to raise hell, _so it's left to the retard to find out all the little details, _I chuckled silently_._

"We managed to get Chib's out when he was knee deep in shit and the IRA was after him, you think we can't smuggle two girls out of the country and into another?" She had a point I mused, I'd heard how the Belfast Charter had managed to get Chib's out without getting him killed or caught.

"How long till Jimmy O starts knocking on our door?" Tig spoke up, leaning forward to lean his elbows on the table.

"They only landed in the country 'bot four hours ago, so with the way things will work out you'll hav' two days max." She was calm and precise. _Suppose that's what happens when you start working for the club when you're twelve! _ Shaking my head I decided to put my own questions on the table.

"What kind of shit are we going to be up against when your Irish buddies decided to come and pay us a visit?" I drawled out from my seat causing her eyes to flicker over to me.

"First of all lov' those pricks aren't my _buddies,_" She hissed, "And secondly have you ever been up against a pissed off Irish man who's lost his favourite play toy?"

"Don't call her that!" Chib's barked the first words he'd spoke since the beginning.

"Don't tell me what to call her! It's the truth and you know it! Why else do you think Jimmy kept her? 'Cus he loved her! That bitch has caused us a hell of a lot of grief over the years so I have every fucking right to call her whatever the damn hell I like!" She paused, catching her breath that was coming in short pants before she continued, "I've spilt blood for that cow, blood that I would rather have kept in my system so shut your god damn mouth and let me finish."

There was a dead silence fell over the chapel. Not a soul dared to move after Claire's speech outburst, Chib's wife and daughter were a touchy subject so most avoided it otherwise they ended up in the ring, saw it happen myself a couple of times. After what the kid in front of us had just said she should have landed herself in a serious amount of pain, not even any of the brothers would have dared to say half of what she had and there she sat injury free. _They have every right to look shocked, _my mind thought, _fuck, even I am._

"So," I started slowly, letting everyone gather themselves together. "The Irish men coming here, they mean business?"

"Aye, lov' when they come, they'll be going for blood," Her eyes met mine and held them as she finished her sentence, "And only when they've got blood will they ask for answers."

**So sorry if there's any spelling mistakes etc. but review please, I love feedback good or bad :) xo**


	2. Chapter 2

**Firstly I'd like to start by thanking all of you who reviewed :) I'm so glad you like it ^^ lol and I'd also like to thank the rest of you who have taken the time to read my story.**

**So here goes the second chapter, hope you enjoy it as much as the first :D xo**

Chapter 2

I knew from the few Irish men I'd had the _pleasure_ of meeting over the years that they were crazy bastards, but as Claire kept talking, I realised not only were they crazy bastards but they were as fucking bloody thirsty as I was. C_ould be a good fight then, _the hopeful part of my mind spoke, _haven't had a good fight in ages unless you count beating the shit out of Tigger in the ring as one_.

"Look," The frustration was easy to spot in Claire's voice, and I wouldn't blame her for being frustrated, her and Clay had been having a back and forth bullshit argument for the better part of an hour now. "I can help you out if you need to lay your hands on some more weapons that ain't the problem. The problem is you need some kinda end game here. I'm trying to make sure you lot don't end up knee deep in shit and injuries! Jesus! Clay just think 'bot it!" Had to give it to the kid like, she was giving as good as she got and trying to protect the club at the same time, but fighting with Clay in the mood he was in, was like hitting your head of a brick wall, _painful and pointless._

"We need a break!" Jax called out before Clay could start speaking again. A mumbled, _thank fuck, _from someone caused chuckles to spread throughout the room.

"Aye, your right," Clay said with a sigh, "We're not getting anywhere here and I need a strong drink and I'm sure the rest of you lot do as well."

Clay barely managed to finish his sentence before the doors where thrown open and I watched as most of the brothers all but ran from the room. I stood slowly, watching as the prospect came in to empty the now overflowing ashtrays, but I also watched how Claire and Clay both stayed seated. They sat in silence, just watching each other as if one would suddenly leap at the other and attack. W_hat the hell is their story, _my mind grumbled at me.

"Claire, leave it," The Scots man said as he placed a comforting had on her shoulder, "You two can finish this later, but some of us don't the strength at the minute."

For all the frustration and anger that was sure to be flowing through the kids system, she got up with such calmness and composure that even I was surprised, _mind you; you can't do anything calmly except for killing these days, _the voice of reason spoke in my mind. I followed Claire and Chib's out of the room only leaving Clay and Tig alone in there and made my way to the bar.

"Normal?" The prospect asked with a slight cock of his head. I nodded my answered in the positive but I was more interested in watching Chib's lead the kid over to the bar out of the corner of my eye, noticing as they sat a few stools up from me.

"What can I get you?" Bobby asked smiling at her.

"Jack and no ice Bobby," _Girl can drink I'll give her that, but does she have to know everyone?_

"You had a hard day then?" Bobby asked. I listened as Bobby started to strike up small talk with her as my drink was slid across the bar to me. Taking a swig from it, I tilted my head, waiting to hear her answer.

"I'm tired of trying to be helpful and then having it thrown back in my face," For all her calmness on the outside, the anger and frustration she had shown earlier in church still boiled away on the inside I noticed with a smirk, the girl was good hiding things outwardly at least.

"Come on kid, I know Clay can be stubborn but..." Before Bobby could even properly start with his defence of Clay he was cut off by Claire.

"I've no patience to waste arguing with a man who doesn't realise that there's someone trying to help him even when it's staring him in the god damned face!" She growled out her answer, her accent thickening, "Fuck it!" She snapped as she through back her drink, grimacing slightly as it burned its way down her throat, "I'm going for a smoke." As she jumped down off her stool she turned to Chib's who was in the process of stepping down of his own stool, "Don't you dare follow me Uncle Philip or I'm gona' smack you found the back of the head if you do. I swear it to Christ and all his saints."

"She hasn't changed then?" I heard Bobby ask Chib's as I walked passed them, making my own way towards the door the kid had just left out of; something was driving me to make sure she was ok. Y_ou're losing it bro',_ my mind chuckled at me, _and you're running after a girl, you don't do that_.

Ignoring my minds mental rant, I watched from my covered spot by the door as Claire turned to light up her cigarette, shielding her lighter with her hand so the flame didn't go out as a gentle breeze blow through the yard. As she leant back against the wall she used one of her feet to proper herself up, before she breathed in deep, taking a hard drag from her cigarette before letting go of the smoke slowly.

"You know," I felt a grin pull at the sides of my mouth at the small jump that went through her body at the sound of my voice, but what I didn't like though, was that her hand went for her gun. "I wouldn't do that if I were you princess," I spoke, as I immerged from my spot by the door, "I wouldn't want to have to shoot a girl 'cause she was stupid enough to pull a gun on me."

"Why the fuck would I care if you shot me," She hissed out, her hand was still slowly moving towards her boot, "I'll have you know I'm very good a taking bullets." I grabbed her wrist, twisting it up so that it was level with my chest and nowhere near her gun before I responded to her.

"Oh, I know cupcake, heard all about it, but I'm pretty sure a couple of people would be pissed if I killed you," As I spoke her sneer caused me to laugh slightly, tightening me grip on her wrist I continued, "Plus I don't think you'd like to give Clay to chance to get off debt free from whatever your hold is over him." By the end of my sentence Claire's wrist had went slack in my grip and she had turned her head from me, _look at me, _my mind told me to say, but I kept quiet, not understanding where the need to have her look at me came from. "That's a nice bike you've got there," I spoke after a while, the silence between us had become too deafening for my taste, but I still hadn't let go off her wrist. _It's to make sure she doesn't run off, _I told myself, not allowing my mind to believe anything else.

"Thanks," She spoke, barely lifting her eyes from the patch of dirt at her feet.

"You going to tell me what it is or am I going to have to ask sweetheart?" All the anger she seemed to have during our fight earlier seemed to have left her suddenly as she was now fully slumped against the wall of the shop.

"It's a Harley-Davidson 883 Iron," _Impressive, _I thought as I let out a low whistle of appreciation.

"Now how does a little girl like you handle a bike like that?" Her head kicked back as soon as I'd finished me question, her back straightening as her gaze met mine, the fire was back in her eyes now, and I couldn't help the smirk that spread across my features.

"Trust me," She all but purred at me, "When that baby's between my thighs it handles just fine." I was past thinking about the bike as she raised her cigarette to her mouth between her red talons, breathing deep of it once again.

"I'm sure you can handle many powerful things between those legs of yours darling," _You're hitting on your brothers niece, _my mind barked in warning at me, but as a sliver of her tongue came out and wet her lips I couldn't give two shits about what I was doing, just that it felt right.

"Yeo! Claire," As the deep Scottish accent bellowed across the yard my head snapped round following it back to the door of the club house. _Fuck, _even from the far side of the yard where Claire and I stood, I could still see how pissed off Chib's looked. "Get over here! We need to talk!"

"Looks like you've just annoyed the big bad wolf lov'," Claire drawled, her accent kicking in once again, "Hope he doesn't eat you all up suga' it would be one hell of a waste." I waited till she had turned her back before I spoke.

"The only thing I'll be eating up is you gorgeous," The quiet snort she let out told me I had been heard. As I watched her walk back to her Uncle, Tig stopped level with me, chuckling at the glare Chib's sent my way.

"Be careful killa'," Tig spoke from my side; I shot him a quick glare over my shoulder as I started to walk back to the shop.

"How you and the rest of the guys know her?" I questioned as we got settled back to our work.

"She's helped us out in the past; you know guns and shit," He was elbow deep in the engine he was trying to fix as he answered.

"You going to tell me what she's got over Clay?" Tig's head jerked back so quickly that he hit it of the hood of the car he was working on.

"Fuck," He paused as he tried to rub the pain out of the back of his head with his hand. "Now you just had to go and pick up on that crap didn't you!" He answered, sounding more amused than pissed.

"It's my job!" I growled at him, "Now tell me what the fuck their deal is!"

"Keep your god damn voice down!" Tig hissed as he shoved me away from my job and into the office, slamming the door closed behind him with his foot. "Brother you keep your mouth shut about this or I'm going to be the one ordered to put two bullets in your head!" Tig whispered furiously to me as he held me pinned up against the door by two fistfuls of my shirt.

"Let. Me. Go." I growled back, shoving him hard in the chest. An uncomfortable silence fell over the two of us, I never stepped away from the door but Tig turned and walked over to the desk, throwing himself into the seat, looking up at me. "What's going on?" I asked again.

"This doesn't leave this room," He spoke slowly, waiting for me to nod before he continued. "You remember a few years back when Clay had to go over to Ireland, some club drama? Yea, well, he did something stupid, got himself into a whole new field of shit."

"What he do? How is Claire involved?" I needed to know what the hell was happening, this place would fall to pieces if secrets grew, _just looked what happened with Donna, _I thought, _Claire's not going to end up like Donna, _some possessive side of my brain snapped before I had a chance to rain it in.

"He killed someone, someone high up in the IRA food chain. Claire! Fuck, she took the heat. Fixed everything! Made sure the bloody club was protected first." His laugh was hollow, his eyes though showed pain, the pain though, I couldn't figure out where it came from. "The girl out there, she's twenty-four. She spent two years in prison, only got out about sixteen months ago. She was fucking nineteen when she covered for Clay." He ran his hands done his face, rubbing his mouth as if to put the words he'd just spoken back in.

"Don't you dare tell me she went to prison because..." I was cut off by Tig as he shoved the office table hard, causing it to topple over with a loud crash.

"That kid is born and bred class A club material. She lives, breathes, bleeds for the club. So, yea, she holds that over Clay, and for once in my life I believe she has every right to hold it over him." I stood in shock. Tig always had Clays back, no matter what twisted, nasty shit was going on and here he was fighting the corner of some Irish bird. "She also lets us know if anything's going down with the Irish that could affect us." This time his laugh sounded fuller, "Mind you I think she only does it to make sure Clay doesn't feel too much like a prick seeing as he's being played like a fiddle by the girl, to use Claire's Irish phrasing."

We sat in silence for what felt like ages, the weight of everything Tig had just told me was like a lead weight sitting in the pit of my stomach. _Damn, if that bitch had a dick, she would be Belfast's Sergeant at Arms in a heartbeat, _I thought. The knock on the door caused Tig's head to snap up in the direction of the sound and pulled me from my thoughts, with a glance at Tig to make sure everything was cool I answered.

"It's open!"

"Clay wants the pair of you back in Church, something's going down," The prospect spoke as he leaned his head round the door, making sure not to step foot inside of it though.

"Clean this mess up prospect," Tig ordered as he rose from his chair, "you coming killa'?" Snorting I kicked myself of the door and followed him back to the club house.

**So there it is, sorry if there's any errors but hope you enjoyed getting a little insight into Claire's background and now all you have to do is press that little button that lets you review :) lol so let me know what you think xo**


	3. Chapter 3

**Well here's the next chapter hope you enjoy :) just like to thank everyone who took the time to review and everyone else who took the time to read my story xo**

Chapter 3

"You're a dick you know that!" I watched amused as Claire snapped at Clay, chuckling slightly at the surprised looks on some of my brother's faces. Not many people had the balls to call Clay a dick and far less had the balls to call him it to his face. _Mind you, _my mind countered, _not many can hold a two year jail sentence over Clay's head and say that their owed one hell of a personal debt._ "You're rejecting help for the soul reason that it's _me _who's offering it! You old git! Do you have any idea what Jimmy will do when he comes here and you're not protected? He'll go after everyone in this club! Women! Children! Even the fucking plumber if he had to! He'll destroy everything until he finds what he's looking for! If you don't listen to me you can kiss the Sons of Anarchy goodbye, period!" I noticed that every brother in the room was sitting ramrod straight by the end of Claire's rant, wide eyed and in shock. The silent, _she's talking bollocks, _went unsaid, but the sigh that Clay let lose told me he knew it was being thought.

I flicked my eyes over to Tig's, catching his attention and silently asking him, _what the fuck do we do now, _to which he just shook his head. _Great lot of use you are, _my mind said with a sarcastic edge.

"Look Claire, I appreciate all your ..." Clay was cut off by three hard raps on the doors of the room before the head of the prospect appeared around them.

"I'm real sorry Clay," The kid started, and truth be told he looked scared shitless, "But there's two guys outside in the yard looking for Claire. One goes by the name of Sean O'Neil."

"What the hell is he doing here?" The Prospect flinched visibly at Claire's sudden outburst before he ducked back out of the door. "Shite! Oh, crap! I didn't mean to scare the poor boy," A round of chuckles ran through the room at her guilty looking face. The prospect was used to far worse, yet she was sorry about scaring the lad, _cute, _my mind thought, _we're not going down that road, _I growled at myself as Claire continued. "Look I better go see what the two of 'em want, but Clay, please just think 'bot what I said." As she finished she sent a pleading look in Chib's direction before she walked out, closing the doors quietly as she went.

"You should listen to her Clay," Chib's started slowly, "If not for the fact that she's telling you the truth, think 'bot all the free fucking guns you'll get out of it!" By the end of Chib's blunt speech his deep Scottish accent was in full growl.

"Clay, when has Claire ever lied to us?" It seemed now it was Tig's turn to try and convince Clay that Claire's plan was the right way to go, _good luck, _I muttered to myself. "You know she's good for everything, and you owe her! Take her up on her offer and we can think of a plane to protect the women and children later." A defeated look slowly spread across Clay's features as Tig came to the end of his sentence. _Well, when your Sergeant at Arms is against you, and your V.P. is at war with you, you're obviously going to be defeated, you've got no-one on your side, _my mind chuckled.

"Oh, hell," Clay grumbled as he leant his head back, leaning it against the back of his chair. "If she does this gun run, I want people with her."

"I'll go," My voice spoke before my mind had time to even realise that I'd opened my mouth.

"If the killa' gets to go I'm going," Tig spoke, the laughter was barely hidden in his voice, "Wouldn't want him having all the fun now would we."

"If those two are going with her, I'm sure as hell going to!" Chib's barked out before anyone else had a chance to speak, "I don't trust those two alone with her."

"It's settled then," Clay said as he leant forward, resting his hands on the table, "Everyone in favour?" A chorus of _eyes _filled the room in respond to Clay, "It's settled then. Now we have..."

"We have a serious fucking problem!" As Claire's Irish accent suddenly filled the room, Clay's sentence was cut short and every head in the room snapped up to look at her as she walked in the double doors of church slamming closed behind her by the force of her entry. "Jimmy lands tomorrow, at three o'clock in Washington State, and then has a helicopter waiting at the airport to bring him here!" As curses rang out through the room and the voices of my brothers began to rise in anger, I noticed how pale Claire looked. I had never seen anyone look that pale before and as her gaze locked on mine I noticed that she held fear in her eyes, it was faint and well hidden but I saw it, and as I held her gaze I felt some unknown need to seek out the bastard who caused her to hold the fear within her and rip him to pieces, _careful, _the voice in my head started, _you can't get to attached now_.

"What do we do?" Jax spoke as the voices of my brothers slowed and finally stopped.

"That depends," Claire started slowly, leaning her arms on the back of the chair she had sat on before but not bothering to sit this time. "You gona' to accept my help yet?" She asked Clay, cocking her head expectantly.

"Yea I am," He growled at her, "We even decided that Tig, Hap and Chib's are going with you on your gun run while you were out talking to your buddies earlier."

"You don't have the right to decide whether or not I have to take your men with me!" She growled back at him with just as much distain as he showed her, "I don't need fucking babysitters!" She spat at him, glaring daggers at him the whole time she spoke.

"They're going whether you like it or not darling," He snapped, Claire's eyes narrowed as he spoke and I couldn't help do the same, especially as he called her _darling. _The possessive feeling I had had earlier came back full force, wanting to beat the shit out of Clay for speaking to her like he was, but I took a deep breath willing myself to calm down as they continued talking. "You leave within the hour; I want you back here in Charming as soon as humanly possible!"

"You are not my master!" She hissed, "I'm the one helping you here! So don't act like it's you doing me any bloody favours!"

"I'll act however I want, this is my club not yours!" Clay had stood somewhere throughout their fight and was now leaning over the table, glaring at her. His temper only showed me one thing though, _he's losing control, _I couldn't help but think and by the look on some of my brother's faces they were thinking the same.

"Calm down old man," Claire chuckled, and going by the smirk on her face and the smug look in her eyes I knew she'd seen the same thing as I had. "I'm here to protect me family, not knock you out of that chair," Her smirk grew she continued, "Anyway if I wanted you out of that chair I wouldn't need to have an argument with you, you'd give it to me and our debt would still be nowhere near fucking cleared." Her voice was calm and cold, and as she finished speaking not a soul dared breath but all watched as Clay fell into his chair looking up at her as if he'd just saw a ghost, the colour he had in his face from the argument had drained leaving him almost transparent.

"Claire, I think you've done enough don't you," Chib's spoke gruffly. "We should all get ready; we have a long night ahead of us."

There was silence in the room; no-one spoke as they left the room one by one, Chib's leading them out until the only people still in the room were Tig, Clay, Claire and myself.

"Take it you know mine and Clay's dirty little secret then?" Her tone was light as she questioned me, but as I looked up I saw a hard edge to Claire's features, it reminded me of the way I felt before I killed.

"Yea," I spoke gruffly, _twenty years of nonstop smoking, drinking and all round partying will do that to you man, _I thought. "I figured you had something over Clay by the way you were acting towards him earlier, I asked Tig," I watched as she raised a questioning eyebrow at me and chuckled slightly before I continued. "You don't have to worry darling, Tig already warned me he'd but two bullets in my head if I told anyone."

"You don't have to worry 'bot Tigger lov'," She purred, her voice causing my blood to speed up in my veins slightly. "I'll be the one putting 'em in your head," Her accent was thick as she spoke, giving her voice a more sinister edge, "And that you would have to worry 'bot." Her eyes flashed as she spoke and I couldn't help the grin that spread over my features.

"Is this their twisted version of flirting or something?" The sound of Clay's voice caused Claire to look at him, removing her gaze from me.

"You better not be starting again," Claire snapped at him.

"Why you flirting with him, I thought I was the love of your life," Tig spoke causing a growl to rise in my throat, but before I could do anything Claire cut in.

"Stick to your hookers Tig, there more suited to you." Her comment and the put out look Tig now wore caused me to snort in amusement, but after a moment Claire continued. "Clay, I don't want to start a fight with you, that ain't why I'm here."

"I know," As the deep sigh racked through Clay, he suddenly looked a lot older, the bruising under his eyes looked darker and he looked tired. "You think you can be ready to leave in an hour then?"

"Aye, gota' ring my boys let 'em know to come back here and what's happening, then I have to call up my gun guy," Her tone was softer now as she spoke, so was Clay's I realised, like they'd come to a silent truce.

"How long will it take you to get to wherever it is this meet is going to be at?" He questioned.

"Portland, so we'll be back by tomorrow morning provided we don't sleep or stop and checking the merchandise and paying for it don't take longer than the couple of hours that it should." Claire said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"What kind of merchandise are we talking about here?" I spoke up, trying to come up with ways of getting it back.

"Glock's, M4's, couple of SA80's that kind of thing, why?" She asked giving me a confused look.

"We won't be able to get some of them back on our bikes." A look of realisation dawned on Claire's features as what I said sunk in.

"We could use one of Unser's trucks," Tig spoke up, leaning forward on his elbows.

"If we all suddenly disappear with one of his trucks won't someone know?" Three deep, throaty laughs sounded through the room only to receive a sharp glare from Claire causing us to quiet.

"Unser's on our pay roll," It was Clay who spoke, and the understanding on her face was quick relief before she began again.

"Thing is though, we can't take a truck to get the guns," This time it was us that gave Claire confused looks. "We won't have enough guns to fill a truck so why take one? It'll only make a greater risk, so why don't we take a car?"

"You never were just a pretty face were you?" Clay let out a chuckle.

"Hun, you should be one of the people who know that best of all." Before anyone could say anything else, knocking on the doors disturbed us.

"You four coming out any time soon?" Chib's Scottish accent sounded through the doors but he never entered, _strange, _I quietly thought, "Oh, Claire, your mates are back."

"I'll go check on my guy's," Claire spoke as she rose from her seat, giving us with a brief smile.

"Tig get Chib's and bring him in here," Clay spoke after making sure Claire wasn't about to step back into the room.

"What's going on here then," Chib's spoke as he and Tig walked back into the room.

"This _apology gift _from Claire is there going to be any trouble from it," Clay started bluntly.

"Clay, it's a simple drive up there and back," Tig spoke up.

"I know but what I'm asking is is there going to be any trouble between you three on it?" Silence met his question, answer enough to Clay though, "What the hell happened?" Clay snapped when the silence drew on and none of us were willing to answer, _truth is, you don't know how to answer bro', _my mind answered smugly.

"Nothin' happened," Chib's started but was cut of quickly by Clay.

"Bullshit! You were sitting here when the three of you all jumped up like fucking boy scouts saying you'd go with her. Now I'll ask again, what the hell happened?"

"I'm doing it because I want to help Claire, she's done a lot for this club and I'm going to honour her commitment, plus she's hot who wouldn't want to spend time with that!" I was growling by the end of Tig's sentence and judging by the pissed look on Chib's face he didn't like it either.

"Know you see why I'm going?" Chib's barked out, "Between Tig and Hap I don't know which one to trust least left alone with her!"

"I wouldn't fucking hurt her!" I growled at Chib's before I realised I'd spoke, _that shits got to stop happening, _I snapped at myself.

"Hap," Clay said slowly, trying to get me to calm, "We know you wouldn't hurt a _brother's _girl, right Chib's," Clay asked not looking away from me. Out of my peripheral vision I saw Chib's give a stiff nod, Clay must have saw it to as he continued, "What's happening between you and the girl, because you seem suddenly very protective?"

"He wants to fuck her senseless," At Tig's words I saw black, I didn't even realise I'd jumped the table and was on him until Chib's was dragging me off him.

"Calm the fuck down brother," Chib's spoke quietly to me, "You got him, not let's get over this shit!"

"You don't speak about her like that," I growled at Tig, shaking Chib's of my harshly, "Stick to your hookers and leave her be!"

As I threw the door open I was greeted by a crowd of people standing there looking at me, obviously they had heard the noise coming from church and had come to see what had happened. Pushing past them I stormed along the corridor to my room, my blood still pumped fast through my veins, fuelled by my rage. Throwing the door to my dorm open, I marched in and went in search of the duffel I kept, throwing clothes and shit around the room in the process. When I found it I made a quick sweep of my room, trying to figure out what I'd need for the run when I was interrupted by a gentle tapping on my door.

"Fuck off!" I snarled not even bothering to find out who it was.

"I knew you were cold but I didn't think you were a dick!" Before I had realised what I was doing, I had walked over to the door, thrown it opened and dragged Claire inside, slamming it closed before pressing her hard up against it.

"What did you call me?" My voice was gruff as I spoke, my blood still boiling.

"I think you heard me lov'," She spoke slowly; the purr was starting to rise in her voice again, causing some of my blood to move south.

"Why the hell are you here? And it better not be just to call me a dick, or darling, you'll regret it." Not many women stood up to me and it was always a thrill breaking them, and I had a feeling that breaking Claire might just be the best thrill I'd had in a long, long time.

"What you gona' beat me like I'm one of your croweater's that you can throw around?" I pushed her harder against the door, my body was now fully pressed against her, and it was getting harder not to let my body react the way it wanted to when it was around her.

"Why are you here?" I asked again, glaring hard down at her, cocking my head slightly.

"Heard 'bot your little fight with Tig," She paused, looking up at me, her eyes held mischief. She pushed her body closer to mine, causing her chest to be pushed flush with mine. She tilted her head up so that her mouth was at my ear. "If I knew you wanted to protect my honour lov' I would have bought you armour," As she spoke, her lips brushed across my ear with every new word she spoke and I couldn't control the groan that had formed deep in my throat from escaping.

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter :) sz if there's any errors and the next one should be up soon seeing I've nearly finished it lol so review and tell me what you think xo**


	4. Chapter 4

**Told you I'd have this chapter up quickly ^^ lol didn't think it was very nice of me to keep you in suspense lol also like to say thanks to those who review I appreciate it :D so here's the next chapter hope you enjoy :) xo**

Chapter 4

"You need to leave," I spoke, my voice deeper with arousal. Claire's breathing was now coming out in short, fast pants and the only thing I wanted to do, was well her, but Clay's words echoed in my head. _We know you wouldn't hurt a brother's girl._ If Claire didn't leave soon, I knew I'd end up hurting her, I'd use her and leave and I couldn't allow that to happen not after what had occurred in church, no matter how tempting the need to be in her was.

"You can't be serious?" She spoke in a shocked tone; I could feel her breath on my lips as she spoke and I couldn't help but lick my own in response. "You don't really want me to leave lov'," As she spoke, Claire circled her hips, drawing a strangled moan from me as I felt the much needed friction on my now granite hard dick. "I'm here, and I'm willing, are you really going to say no?" I buried my face in the hollow that was formed where her shoulder and neck met, praying for some kind of relief, but her sent was now everywhere, in my head, in my nose, in my mouth and it was causing my self control to quickly diminish.

"Your Chib's niece," I spoke gruffly, lifting my head so I could look her fully in the eyes, "I can't fuck you and walk away. Chib's would kill me, and I'm too much of a selfish bastard to let that happen to me." Even as I spoke, the words felt like ash in my mouth. _She deserves better that a quick fuck against you dorm room door, _my mind reasoned, _thing is, _I countered, _that's the only thing I can offer her. _Somewhere during my internal conversation Claire had managed to slip out from under me without me noticing and was now standing on the opposite side of the room from me, arms crossed over her chest.

"If you don't want me, in any way, why did you punch Tig?" I groaned at her question, hitting me head of the door and leaving it there.

"I don't know why," I answered honestly.

"You don't know why you punched your own _brother _in the face?" Her voice held the same note of confusion I felt.

"Why are you here?" I asked suddenly, spinning so that I was facing her, "Seeing as I'm not going to accept your _thank – you for defending my honour fuck_, what are you still doing here?" Her eyes narrowed as I yelled at her.

"I want to know why you jumped Tig!" She snapped back at me.

"Why does it matter to you? It's none of your business what happens between me and _my brother_!"

"It is when it's 'bot me!" Her eyes were slits now, and they burned with the rage she was suppressing. Stepping towards me she continued, "I want to hear your reason for doing it, from your own mouth, and not the reason Clay, Tig and Chib's are saying!"

"And what reason's that?" I asked silently praying that they hadn't told her what had actually happened in my head.

"You did it 'cause Tig basically told you he'd do me," At her blunt answer the rage from my fight earlier with Tig came back in a surge.

"And why darling, does everything have to revolve around you?" We were standing inches from each other and her presence was starting to affect me again. "Just because you have Clay under your thumb doesn't mean I am," _Nope you're just wrapped round her little finger and she doesn't even realise it, _my mind argued. "Why don't you just get on that bike of yours and go back home to Ireland and let us do our fucking jobs without some little girl getting in the way." Searing pain shot through my face and it took me a second or two to realise that Claire had punched me.

As I cupped my nose I felt the slow trickle of wetness running down my face. Bring my hand away from my nose so I could see what it was I saw red. _Bitch broke my nose, _I slowly realised as I figured out that it was blood trickling down my face and smeared on my hand.

"Don't you worry lov', I'm going home as soon as this shite is all done," She glared daggers, and I could see by the way her hand twitched that she was stopping herself from hitting me again. "Don't you ever talk to me again as if I'm lower than you or I swear to Christ that me breaking that nose of yours will be the least of your problems, I'll kill ya', understand?" As she finished she shoved past me causing me to wince as the movement caused pain to flare in my nose again. "By the way," I watched as she looked over her shoulder as she opened the door to leave, "No matter what twisted shite Tig's into he wouldn't go after me, he'll never leave his whores plus he knows I wouldn't let him near me." With that the door slammed shut leaving me standing in the middle of my room with blood running down my face in complete shock. _That bitch won't be easy to break, _I scoffed, _mind you, she broke you easily enough, _my mind mocked at me.

"Fuck!" I yelled, kicking at the chair beside me in anger, "Fuck!" I muttered again, before I walked over to the bathroom. As I looked in the mirror I saw the state of my face. Blood covered my mouth and chin and my nose had already started swelling. After I washed the blood off me I went back into my room and sent a quick text to Tig before stuffing a spare set of clothes into my duffel and a couple of spare guns and a few sets of spare ammo.

"Hap, you in there bro'?" Tig called through my door, thumping on it with his fists.

"It's open!" I called back, not moving from my spot on the bed.

"Why you need me…" Tig's voice trailed off as he saw me, a surprised look formed across his features. "What happened to you?"

"Claire," I answered simply.

""What the hell did you do to make her hit you?"

"That doesn't matter, would you just put my fucking nose back into place!" I growled, quickly tiring of Tig's questioning.

""She's got a good left hock doesn't she," Tig said with a smirk as he walked over to where I was sitting on my bed.

"Where did she learn to through a punch like that from?" I asked more to myself than to Tig.

"Hold still a second would you," Tig muttered before pain ripped through my nose again. Grunting in pain I grabbed my nose with one hand and shoved Tig away from me with the other.

"Thanks," I spoke gruffly.

"And to answer your question," Tig called as he walked to the bathroom to wash my blood from his hands, "She's Chib's niece, he probably had her in the boxing ring before she could walk." There was I a pause and then Tig spoke again, "What are you going to tell Chib's when he see's you like this?"

"Fuck," I muttered again, for the seemingly hundredth time today. "He's going to hit me too isn't he?" I spoke looking up at Tig.

"Yea bro', he probably will." Just as Tig finished speaking, the door to my dorm flew open and Chib's strode in.

"Wana' tell me why my niece had to punch you in the fucking face!" He bellowed, his Scottish accent making his words thick.

"Uncle Philip!" Claire's voice cried as she suddenly stood at the opening to my room, "You swore to me you wouldn't do this! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"You don't hit people for no reason Claire!" Chib's rumbled at her, "So, I wana' know what the fuck he did to deserve it!"

"It has nothing to do with you!" Claire was trying to drag him out of my dorm by the arm but he was standing firm, she was losing quickly so I decided to act.

"Chib's leave her out of this! This is between the two of us!"I growled as I made my way over to stand beside Claire. "Leave and don't look back," I whispered into her ear, watching with a smirk as a shiver ran through her body, "I'll take care of this I promise you." She tried to say something but I silenced her with a look before I walked her to the door, closing it on her shocked face. "Look I didn't do anything with her, we talked, that's it." I spoke to Chib's not turning from the door.

"Then why the hell she hit you?" He cried the frustration rising in his voice.

"I said something she didn't like."

"Are you being intentionally vague?" He growled at me, I could hear him move behind me. "Look at me, and tell me what you said," His tone of voice let it be known that it was and order not a choice.

"And what if I say no?" I spoke as I turned. Pained spread across my face for the second time that day, this time though it was in my cheek. I felt and heard the crunch as Chib's heavily ringed hand connected with my cheek bone.

"You stay the fuck away from her you hear me!" Chib's voice seemed distant and slightly drowned out by the ringing in my ears.

"Chib's we have to do this run," Tig spoke out in my defence.

"Afterwards you leave her be! Don't go near her unless life and death deem it necessary!" He hissed at me, his hands gripping my cut so I stood face to face with him. His hands were the only things keeping me up as my head was still spinning, _damn family has a mean left hock, must run in the blood, _I groaned in pain as my mind rambled.

"And what if I can't?" I heard myself asking.

"Happy, please don't do this," Chib's spoke lowly, his Scottish accent holding an edge of pleading. "I don't want to fight with you brother and I'm sure Claire doesn't want a fight to break out between us."

"She leaves when this is finished," I looked up at Chib's, standing on my own, "Don't fight me over this, but I don't think I'll be able to stay away from her."

"You talk, you act as civil as you can but that's it," It was the best option I could see Chib's offering, so I nodded my understanding and acceptance of his order. "Alright then, it's settled."

There was silence in the room after Chib's left leaving me and Tig alone in my room. I moved from my spot in front of the door so that I could lie down on my bed, resting my head gently on my pillows, hoping to stop the ringing that was still present.

"Be careful what you do now brother," Tig spoke softly as he moved towards the door, "Because from now on your going to be watched every time you're near her."

I couldn't bring myself to answer him, I knew what he was saying was true but at the moment I couldn't bring myself to care. _You fought for her, _I thought, _and you said you couldn't offer her anything, _my mind countered.

I figured I had about half an hour before I had to meet the others and seeing getting some sleep was now out of the picture after being hit in the head twice, I decided to go for a shower. Standing slowly, I lifted my duffle from beside me and set it on the desk in my room, making sure it didn't crumple any of the sketches I had sitting on it. As I walked into the bathroom I flipped the shower on, twisting the knobs until the temperature was how I liked it, stripping off I stepped in letting the hot water run over my tense muscles. Resting one hand on the wall in front of me, I lifted my other hand to the back of my neck, needing the muscles there in an attempt to relax them. I lost track of how long I had stood there, just letting my muscles relax but eventually I knew I had to get out. Stepping out, I dried myself off, throwing on a clean pair of jeans, and a new shirt before looking at myself in the mirror. The left side of my face, under my eye was starting to swell, and the sting from Chib's blow was still present, it was also starting to go black in colouring, the colour merging into the purple colouring that had appeared as a result of Claire breaking my nose. I looked like shit, to be perfectly honest and I felt exactly how I looked.

Stepping away from the mirror, I walked out of the bathroom, grabbing my cut and putting it on before lifting my duffel and throwing it over my shoulder before walking out of my door room, locking the door before I started to walked down the corridor that lead to the club house. As I got closer to the door of the club house that lead out to the yard, the hum of voices grew and I knew as I stepped out that I would be facing the wolves soon.

Stepping out I squinted as the sunlight hit my face, pulling out my sunglasses I pushed them on, silently thanking the guy who created them. As I walked towards where my bike sat, the whispers started, it wasn't until I heard Claire's voice did I pay any attention.

"What the hell did you do?" I heard her hiss, I presumed it was Chib's she was talking to. "You told me you didn't do anything to him! That you only talked! Know tell me why the hell he's bruised more than when I left him?"

"Keep your voice down," I heard Chib's say, before I heard a quiet mumbling form between the two and the only thing I could out make out was muttered curses and then there was silence.

"Wana' tell me why my Uncle hit you?" Claire's voice surprised me but I didn't let it show.

"None of your family seems to like how I answers questions they ask," I said with a smirk.

"Take it that answer you gave has something to do with the way we're being watched?" She was quick I had to allow her that.

"Yea, sorry about that," I spoke, turning to look at her. As her eyes flicked over my face, I noticed as they softened, the gesture caused my heart to tighten suddenly.

"You're not the one who should be apologising, I don't think anyone could control the way you act or speak," She spoke with a chuckle before she continued. "I'm sorry I hit you, I have a habit of letting my temper run away with me."

"We can sure make a mess of things can't we," I spoke gently, cocking my head so I could see her face better through my glasses.

"How 'bot we start over," I felt my eyebrow raise in question and she obviously saw it to as she continued quickly. "What if we started over, and kinda' ignored the messed up bruising on your face and how it all happened." As she spoke, her face took on a look of vulnerability; it was that look of vulnerability that signed her fate for her. With a quick look up in Chib's direction I could see that he was watching me and Claire closely, even though I knew he was watching I raised my hand to Claire's face, brushing her fringe back from her eyes so I could look at her fully before I spoke.

"I'd like that" I knew Chib's would make good on his threat, I wasn't acting in a very _civil manner_ but I couldn't bring myself to care. Claire was mine now, whether Chib's liked it or not I was going to have her. I knew it was the selfish bastard in me coming out, needing to claim her, but with her standing in front of me like she was, asking for a fresh start I couldn't help but give her what she wanted, and she wanted_ me. _

**So that's it, hope you enjoyed it now review and keep me happy lol xo**


	5. Chapter 5

**Just wana' say a huge thanks to all those who have made this one of their favourite stories :D and I'd also like to say a thank you to all those who reviewed ^^ so I hope you enjoy this chapter, and just so you know I don't know a thing about Portland so if anything seems weird about it sorry but other than that here you go! xo**

Chapter 5

The drive to Portland was a quiet and uneventful one. The most exciting thing that happened was when we had to meet up with Claire's guys so they could hand over the money we needed to get the weapons. Chib's had insisted he be the one to drive the SUV, also ensuring that Claire road shotgun with him as me and Tig road ahead of them on our bikes. By the time we reached Portland it was getting dark and we still had another hour to kill before we had to be at the meet. Deciding it was a good idea to stop and have something to eat I signalled to Tig, gesturing towards the Diner that was coming up on the next turn off. At the nod of his head I started to turn into the Diner's parking lot, checking in my mirrors to see if Chib's was following me.

"Who decided we should stop?" Chib's Scottish accent hollered as he stepped out of the SUV, locking the car as Claire got out of the passenger side before he walked over to where me and Tig stood.

"I did," I spoke gruffly, my throat felt like sandpaper as I spoke, _well that's what happens when you don't drink anything but whiskey all day, _my mind reasoned.

"Oh, thank you god," Claire spoke as she overheard mine and Chib's conversation as she stopped level with me. "Thank you," She said looking straight at me before she raised herself slightly, placing her hand on my shoulder and kissing me chastely on the cheek. I stood there stunned, eyes wide, as she walked towards the entrance of the Diner. "I'm fucking starving!" She called out over her shoulder, snapping me back into reality on to realise that Chib's was glaring at me. C_rap, _I hissed to myself, _totally not my fault, this time! _Ignoring the way Chib's was glaring and the amused look Tig was wearing, I followed Claire into the Diner.

As we sat at the table waiting for the waitress to appear and take our orders, no-one spoke and the tension was growing by the second.

"What can I get you four to drink then?" The waitress spoke as she appeared at our table. Her voice was sickly sweet and her perfume was making me feel ill even from the distance I sat away from her.

"What's the strongest drink you're allowed to serve?" Claire spoke quickly.

The waitress gave Claire a confused look before she answered, "Black coffee, I think."

"Fuck!" I heard Claire mutter so quietly that the waitress couldn't hear her before she lifted her head and gave the woman a polite smile and giving the waitress her order. The rest us of ordered after Claire and as the waitress disappeared with our orders we lapsed back into the silence from earlier.

"Are you three going to act like this forever?" Tig finally asked, breaking the deafening silence the lay over us.

"It's not my fault the two of them are making everything more awkward than it should be!" Claire cried out in her defence.

"Well you're the problem sweetheart!" Tig snapped back quickly, but before they could start into a full blown argument Chib's cut in stopping them.

"You right," Both Tig and Claire gave Chib's a surprised look and I couldn't help but raise a brow in question at him. "We can at least act civil towards each other, can't we?" He spoke looking directly at me as he did so, but as I flicked my eyes up, I caught the look of hope that flared in Claire's eyes and forced myself to nod in agreement at Chib's.

The conversation flowed smoothly after our awkward start and soon it was time to leave the Diner and head to the meet.

"I need to drive from now on," Claire's words halted us as we stepped into the parking lot. She must have noticed are inquiring looks as she continued, "None of you lot will know where we have to go so I'll drive the SUV." Nodding in agreement me and Tig went over and settled on our bikes preparing to set off as Claire's Irish accent called across the lot, "You follow behind, don't want ya' gettin' lost on me now do we!" The sound of her laughter filled the lot and it caused me to chuckle at her childish ways despite myself.

"I worry about that one sometimes," Tig said as he let out a chuckle himself.

"I don't," I said honestly, "I think she can handle herself just fine." Tig held an all knowing look in his eyes as I finished speaking but I ignored it, favouring to fix my helmet and start my bike. We trailed behind the SUV for about twenty minutes before we started to enter what looked like a storage plant; warehouses lined the road like trees.

Gun fire suddenly sounded and I watched as the SUV swerved sideways, the glass shattering on the driver's side and the tyres screeching loudly as they locked. _Claire, _was my first thought before I heard a voice.

"Leave now or you won't be leavin' at all!" It was an Irish accent but I couldn't work out where it came from in the dark shadows that surrounded us.

"Sammy, you fuckin' asswhole!" Relief swept through me as I heard Claire's voice as she called out, the door of the SUV swinging open. Glass tumbled out of the now open door, it made a tickling sound as it landed on the grounded. "You're an actual dick! You fuckin' shot me!" I was off my bike and at her side before Chib's had even managed to get out of the SUV. The glass crunched under Claire's feet as she stepped out of the car holding her arm. I moved her hand away holding her arm in my hands, I could feel the dampness of her blood on my hands but I couldn't see anything because of the darkness that surrounded us. A light suddenly flickered on and I noticed that both Chib's and Tig stood beside me and Claire, guns drawn before the Irish voice called out again.

"Claire? That you?" I still couldn't see where it was coming from, "I thought the IRA stopped your protection detail?"

"They did," Claire yelled back in answer, wincing slightly as I moved her arm trying to find the entry wound the bullet had made. "I found someone better! Now come out here before I left these three men here start shooting at every shadow they see." There was a pause and the sound of rustling before a man about six foot three and by the way his jacket was stretched over his chest, tanked out, started to make his way over to us, a riffle slung over his shoulder.

"Now we wouldn't want that now would we," He spoke as he drew level with the bumper of the SUV, smirking slightly, _bastard, _my mind growled wanting nothing more than to shoot him where he stood for hurting Claire. "We should get you inside so that Joanne can take a look at that and take the bullet out," He paused slightly, as if unsure of what he was about to say before he continued, "And of course you'll wana' check out the merchandise." I watched as he turned away, unfazed and walked into the warehouse in front of us.

"Don't shoot him," Claire's voice whispered to me, her voiced made me realised that my hand was resting on my glock, I also realised her hand covered mine.

"We need to get you arm looked at." I stated curtly before I guided Claire into the warehouse, my hand now resting on the curve of her lower back, Chib's and Tig flanking us.

Stepping into the warehouse I noticed a long table set up and laid out on it were about a hundred different weapons, but I also noticed the smaller table sitting beside the weaponry set up with medical equipment and a woman sitting at the chair that sat beside the small table.

"Now what have I told you bot' gettin' shot Claire?" The woman asked rising from her seat. Her accent was more prominent that Claire's I noticed as she continued to speak, "Come over here so I can take that slug out'a your arm that idiot of a husband put in there." I followed closely behind Claire as she made her way over to the woman.

""You ain't changed much," Claire commented as she embraced the woman. The other woman looked older than Claire, round about late thirties and had long brown hair compared to Claire's short, punky blonde hair. Claire stepped back from the hug before she sat gently down into the chair the woman had just rose form, shrugging out of her jacket with a hiss. At Claire's hiss of pain I was at her side helping her out of her jacket as Claire continued to speak with the woman, "How's Alfey and Fraya?" I managed to vaguely catch the conversation the two were having but as I removed Claire's jacket I was suddenly more focused on the massive red patch that was now apparent. It spread across the sleeve of her white t-shirt, the blood oozing rapidly out of her wound and down her arm now the jacket had been removed.

"Oh, there doing well but how 'bot we focus on you for the minute and get this out and we can talk 'bot 'em after." I heard as the woman snapped on a pair of rubber gloves before she leaned over, cutting away the sleeve of Claire's t-shirt, making it easier for her to get at the bullet wound. As the woman walked round to the other side of the table to look intently as the medical equipment in front of her she spoke, "Take a long drink of that whiskey lov', then I suggest you ask that bodyguard of yours if he can give you anything to bite down on 'cause this is gona' hurt like a bitch in heat." _Bodyguard, _my mind thought slowly, _what bodyguard? _It took me a moment to realise she was taking to me and as her words sank in I looked up, noticing that Chib's and Tig were both checking through the weapons on the table, occasionally throwing looks of concern over their shoulders at Claire as they switched weapons.

"Hap," Claire's voice pulled me back from my observation to look down at her. "You got anything I can bite down on?" I was numb, that's the only way I could describe how I felt as I knelt down in front of her.

"Drink some of that whiskey," I spoke quietly as I undid me knife from my jeans.

"I have," She spoke as quietly as I did, chuckling slightly.

"Have more," I growled. Claire gave me an innocent look while keeping her eyes locked with mine as she raised the whiskey bottle to her lips, tilting it slightly before drinking deeply from it. _So fucking hot, _the voice in my head rumbled and I couldn't help but agree as I watched her swallow it like a pro, only wishing she could be swallowing something else.

"She's going to pass out if you keep making her drink like that," The woman, Joanne I'm guessing said as she came and stood beside Claire, "Is that part of your bodyguard training?" She continued with a sarcastic edge in her voice.

"I'm not her bodyguard!" I sneered at the woman not bothering to look up from my knife as spoke, instead focusing on removing my knife from its leather sheath and sliding my knife down the side of my boot for safety.

"Really?" Joanne said in a shocked tone, "'Cause I guessed by the way you're acting that she paid you a hell of a lot of money 'cause you haven't budged from her side since you ran there after she got shot." _How the hell had she seen that? _The woman must have noticed the way my frown deepened as she continued, "Security camera's lov', they're great things."

"You don't get to call me that!" I snapped harshly at her as I stood, taking the whiskey bottle from Claire as I moved. The woman was right though, Claire would end up completely trashed if I let her keep drinking like the way she was. I needed to make sure that Claire was as composed as possible until we could get away from here. "You do what you need to and you do it quickly!" I ordered at her, a glare slowly formed across Joanne's features before she answered.

"I'll do it as quickly as I can but I'd rather do it right! And don't you dare give me orders! I'll have ya' know I care more 'bot her than you will ever do!" I watched amused as the woman's face grew steadily redder as she hissed at me but out of the corner of my eye I could see Claire shaking her head at me, but I paid it little attention.

"Doubtful lady," I snapped at her. "Do what you have to and I'll look after her." As I knelt back down in front of Claire I caught the concerned expression Claire wore and just as I was about to speak Claire cut me off.

"Happy, I appreciate everything your doing, but I'm warning you don't piss my friends off 'cause I really don't wana' have to choose a side." Her words stung me more they should have. _She should choose us, me, _anger raised in me as I realised I'd let Claire get to me so easily, and it was my anger that answered.

"Until you're out of here it's my job to protect you! You don't like the way I work? You know how to find your way home!" I couldn't bring myself to hear her argument and as she opened her mouth to speak, I quickly slid the sheath of my knife into her mouth, using my hands to clamp her mouth shut abound it. "You ready to take that slug out?" I asked Joanne, as she nodded at me I spoke, keeping my gaze locked with Claire's, "So's she."

Claire's hand shot up and grabbed hold of my wrist as Joanne inserted what looked like a set of tweezers into her bullet wound. I twisted my wrist so that I was actually able to hold Claire's hand and I felt as Claire tightened her grip on my hand until it was almost painful. Claire's gaze never left mine, she never made a sound but I could see how tense her jaw was and I feared that she might end up biting through the leather sheath.

"The fucker's lodge in deep," I heard Joanne mutter as she twisted the medical instrument round before she let out a victorious sound, "Got it, know you're gona' hate this, but hold still."

Claire's grip tightened further and I could feel the bones in my hand protesting at the pain Claire's grasp was creating but I took no notice of it, only wishing there had been some other way that would have allowed me to take Claire's pain from her. Claire suddenly sucked in a sharp breath and I saw as one tear escaped from the corner of her eye, sliding down her cheek, my heart tightened at the sight and before I could react, Joanne's voice sounded.

"It's out now," Her voice quietened as she walked away from us but I didn't watch her leave. Instead I removed the leather sheath from Claire's mouth, watching as she licked her dry lips. Dropping the sheath to the floor I lifted my free hand up to her face, cupping it slowly before I ran my thumb across the apple of her cheek, wiping away the errant tear, tilting her head towards mine, longing to taste her, and reassure her.

"Where's the duffel?" Tig's voice caused Claire to jump back in surprise, her movement caused my hand to fall from her face and I instantly missed the connection. _Fucker knew exactly how to ruin a moment, _I thought angrily.

"It's in the car," Claire's voice sounded weak, and I was hit hard by the reality of the situation. "I can go get it if ya' want?"

"You're not moving until she finishes with your arm." I growled at her, as Joanne came back to Claire's side, I also saw Chib's nod of agreement at what I said, _well that makes a change, _my mind spoke.

"I'll get it," I heard Chib's accent break throw my thought, looking over to him quickly I watched as he slipped out of the warehouse door.

"Go check that all the weapons are ok," I heard Claire's weakened voice order.

"I'm not leaving your side..."

"You'll go check the fucking weapons! You're one of the one's who's gona' be using 'em the most and I wana' make sure they're worth the money I'm paying for them." I couldn't disagree with what she was saying, even though everything in me told me I shouldn't leave her. _She's spending a fuck load of money on those weapons, _my mind defended her, _and least you can do is show a little appreciation and do what she says. _Knowing that I wouldn't be able to win the fight between Claire or my mind I nodded to Claire before I started for the table.

Walking over to the table, I lifted the first weapon I came to, it happened to be the SA80. Lifting it up, I checked that the safety catch was on before pulling the riffle back until it was firmly in my shoulder. Cocking the cocking handle back, I locked the working parts to the rear of the weapon before tilting the weapon and looking inside the chamber, making sure that the parts looked in good working order. Once I was happy with everything I released the working parts, fired of the action and covered the ejection opening with the dust cover in quick, fluid movements. As I laid the weapon to rest on the table, a satisfied feeling went through me. _You can still handle a riffle, _my mind spoke sarcastically, _probably has something to do with the fact you shoot one on a weekly basis at least._

"Like it?" Claire's voice was at my ear and I couldn't help but grin at her question.

"How's the arm?" I asked instead of answering her question as I lifted one of the glocks, running through some drills.

"Numb, but I think that's 'cause of the whiskey," She chuckled.

"I'm just glad you're not in pain," I spoke softly and just as I finished speaking a loud bang echoed through the room. Glaring in the direction of the disturbance I realised that it was Chib's sauntering back into the warehouse that had caused the sound, placing the glock back on the table I noticed that he had the duffel slung over his shoulder.

"Don't hurt him," I heard Claire whisper, I took it she had seen me glaring and this was her warning but as I turned to her I saw her smirking, her smirking face caused me to chuckle at her. "Chib's bring the money over to me and Sammy you should come over here too." It took both men only seconds to be standing in front of Claire, Tig trailing not far behind them. "The money's in the duffel, I've counted it personally so I know every penny's there, there's also an extra two grand in there that's yours if you help my guys load the weapons on to the right vehicles."

"I'm not your slave to be bought and sold Claire! Neither are _my _weapons!" Rage swept through me in a blaze and I couldn't suppress the urge to hit the git as he spoke, even as Claire's hand tightened around mine trying to reassure me, the urge didn't leave me.

"The only reason you have these is 'cause Jimmy couldn't flog 'em so he gave 'em to you for a discount! _You _should be fucking grateful I'm even payin' ya' as much as I am!" I could feel the satisfied grin spreading across my face at Claire's words. S_he'd make a feisty Old Lady, _my mind suddenly spoke, shocking the hell out of me and I couldn't help the feeling of hope that flared in me at the possibility of her being my Old Lady, _she'd have the will power and the strength to stick it with you, _my mind called in agreement, liking the image of Claire as my Old Lady as much as I did.

"Where do you want 'em?" Sammy's now beaten and obedient voice pulled me from my train of thought and as I watched Tig, Chib's and Sammy gather the weapons together in piles and head for the door I pulled Claire to me.

"No one can break you can they," _Not even you, _my mind finished for me, worrying me slightly.

"Beat me, shoot me and yell at me but never break me," Claire answered coyly, a smug smile tugging at her lips. Even though I didn't like the thought of Claire beaten up or shot I couldn't help but agree with her, she'd been through hell and back for the club and was still standing proud.

Looking around I saw that we were fully alone for the first time since Claire had been in my dorm room, and I felt a grin spread across my face. Pulling Claire closer to me I felt her sigh as she fully moulded her body to mine. I titled my head closer towards her as she lifted her right arm around my neck, ensuring that I kept bring my face closer to hers. My need for her calmed slightly as I heard her hiss through her teeth as she tried to lift her left arm, and at my worried glance she shook her head at me before settling her hand on my chest instead. I watched as Claire bit gently at her bottom lip, her action caused my blood to rush south and I grabbed her hips in my hands tightly, pulling her lower half flush with my rapidly hardening dick. Her lips parted in a gasp as I moved her hips and as she rotated her hips slowly I lost the tenuous grip I had on my self control, crashing my lips to hers. I lapped at her lips with my tongue and Claire let out a small whimper as I did causing her mouth to open and allowing me sweep my tongue into the wet cavern of her sweet mouth. It was my turn to groan in approval, _god, _she tasted better than I remembered. I matched her aggression, pulling, nipping, lapping, and sucking at her mouth, it wasn't until I could feel myself dipping to lift her onto the table behind us that used to be covered in weapons did I slow the kiss. The moan she let out as she tried to stop me from pulling away had me moaning in return, praying that I got to hear the sound again and soon.

"We have to stop sweetheart," I said deeply, "I don't want to stop, Christ knows I don't! " I had my face buried in her neck, kissing her soft skin between each word I spoke, I couldn't help the shiver ran down my back as her nails scratched gently at the base of my neck.

"You've got me all hot and bothered! And now you gona' stop? I should really hate you," Her voice held teasing, but I groaned as she told me she was turned on. "I'm gona' have to make you pay me back with interest lov'," As I raised my head from her neck she winked at me.

"If there wasn't the chance we'd get caught by your Uncle walking in through those doors," I growled lowly, "I would have you bent over this table in seconds, ramming into you as hard as I fucking could!" As I finished talking I noticed how Claire's eyes darken and that her breathing was now coming in short pants, unfortunately I noticed how it made her chest rise and ran rapidly and regrettably it was then that Chib's and Tig came barrelling in through the door of the warehouse laughing loudly only to quieten as they saw us.

**There it is :) hope you enjoyed it, sorry if there was any mistakes or anything lol review and tell me what you're thinking ^^ xo**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I thanked every god that I knew of as we road back to Charming for Claire. Luckily my face had managed to survive unscathed after Chib's had caught us, Claire had somehow managed to calm Chib's down before he had the chance to cause my face any more physical pain.

_Flashback_

"_What the fuck are you doing?" Chib's seethed as he shoved Tig out off his way and started towards us._

"_Are you honestly going to ask what we are doing Uncle Philip? 'Cause I think it's kinda' obvious!" Claire's voice was so calm and it was the calmness that caused me to worry. "I'm not some child anymore Uncle Philip! I can do as I please!" As she spoke she moved from where I had her pinned to the table by my hips so that she was between me and Chib's. It wasn't just me who noticed how possessive here stance became._

"_You can't go around jumpin' into bed with him!" As Claire spoke I could feel how she shook with rage. _

"_I am not some whore!" She hissed, "And I am not someone you can order about like one of your prospects!" I watched as Chib's jaw fell open at Claire's words. "I lov' ya Uncle Philip, truly I do, but I won't let ya' punch him again when he doesn't deserve it."_

We had left Portland quickly after Claire and Chib's confrontation and road hard through the night. We had only had one stop and that was for coffee, but when I had gone over to the SUV to check on Claire I had found her passed out and sleeping deeply in the passenger seat, wrapped tightly in the coat Chib's wore under his cut. The jealously that I had felt seeing her wrapped up in another man's clothing, even though it was her Uncle's, her family, had stung, but as I passed the 'Welcome to Charming' sign I had to push my feelings aside. As we pulled into the yard of Teller-Morrow I was surprised to see that a crowd had gathered outside.

"Happy!" _Shit, _my mind hissed at the sound of my name, knowing who the voice belonged to instantly. "How are you bro'?" As I rose from my bike, I watched as the SUV pulled to a halt across the lot from where the bikes sat, but my line of sight was ruined as Koz suddenly appeared in front of me.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I growled at him, watching over his shoulder as Claire stepped out of the car slowly.

"Clay called the Prez' telling him about the Irish situation and a few of us decided we'd come up and make sure you didn't get yourselves killed." Koz's chuckle rang out, it wasn't until Tig came up behind him, slapping him hard up the back of the head did he finally shut up, _thank god for Tig, _I mused.

"The Doc' is going to re-check Claire's arm, just to make sure everything's up to standard." Tig spoke as he cocked his head towards the door of the club house where I saw that Claire and Chib's were talking to a very plain looking brunette.

"Ahhh," Koz breathed out before letting out an appreciating whistle only to earn a glare from both me and Tig. Koz reacted quickly though, raising his hands to signal defeat, "I'm just putting a face, and ass to the famous Claire I've been hearing about." He barely got the time to flash one of his boyish grins when my fist met his face.

"You don't go near her!" I growled as I pulled him up by his cut so that his now blood covered face was level with mine.

"What the fuck's your problem bro'? She's free game! And why the fuck would you care about a piece of ass that leaves in like two days?" It wasn't necessary but all I could see was red and all I could hear was Koz's words on repeat in my head, '_that leaves in like two days', _so before I could catch myself my fist met with his face again, and this time the sickening crunch of his nose fully breaking echoed through the yard.

"You've done enough," I heard Tig's voice beside me. "I know I don't like Blondie here much but the dick lives of his looks so maybe, we can leave his face alone for a moment?" I knew Tig was trying to be helpful but nothing was going to help me at the moment, _except drinking yourself unconscious, _my mind suggested helpfully.

As I stormed into the club house and past a thoroughly confused looking Claire I walked straight to the bar where the prospect was already setting down a tumbler of whiskey and beer. Throwing myself onto the stool, I tossed back my Jack in one, savouring the burn it left behind before drinking nearly half of my beer in three deep swallows.

"Yeo!" I heard Clay shout across the club house, silencing all the conversations that were happening around me. As I looked around I saw as all the sons for both the Tacoma Charter and the Charming Charter all watched Clay curiously. "My Queen wants to invite you all to our house tonight for a family BBQ before all this shit goes down! You'll all head over to mine after church tonight, and that's an order! None of us want to be on Gemma's shit list tonight," Laughter ran out at his words but I ignored them and went back to my beer. It wasn't until Claire's scent washed over me did I realise that she was sitting beside me looking expectantly at me.

"Wana' tell me why you hit the blonde?" She asked as she took a pull from her own beer, but as she licked her lips after I had to look away from her.

"S'not your business," The snort she let out was enough of a sign to me that she knew I was talking bullshit. "He was being a dick so I sorted him out."

"What he say 'bot me that caused ya' to break his face lov'?" I didn't answer, I only sat there staring at the wall behind the bar, slowly finishing off my beer. "You want me to leave? Or are ya' gona' stop being a grumpy git and tell me what your _brother _said?" I could tell by the way her voice was that she was getting frustrated with my lack of communication.

"When are you leaving?" I asked after a moment, but when she didn't answer straight away I continued, "When are you leaving Charming? In a day, maybe two?" When she didn't answer it was my turn to get frustrated, turning in my stool I looked at her only to see a flash of hurt in her eyes before she hid it behind her mask, _shit._

"Now why would ya' wana' know that?" I could tell by the way her accent became more prominent that she was either getting annoyed or upset, i had a feeling it was the latter.

"Because if you weren't leaving I'd tell you because it would actually mean shit then." I didn't wait for her answer, I felt open and vulnerable for the first time since I'd joined SAMCRO as I answered Claire and my instincts had suddenly kicked in, _run._

As I sped out of the yard and out of the gates of Teller-Morrow, I barely registered Claire coming running out of the club house doors, calling my name. I navigated my way through the twisting streets of Charming quickly until I hit the border of the town limits, realising I couldn't ride that far out of town because of what was about to go down I pulled off onto the dirt track at the side of the road. Cutting the engine I sat there, events from the last two days swirling round my head, _two days, _I thought with a curse, _two days and I've turned into a fucking whipped pussy. _It wasn't until I heard the sound of another engine that I was pulled from my internal rant at myself. Turning in my seat I groaned at how stiff I'd become, I watched as the bike pulled up behind mine and Chib's rose from his seat and walked towards me. We simply stared at each for a long moment and I was surprised when it was Chib's who broke the silence.

"By my calculations," He rumbled in his Scottish accent, "You have 'bot twenty-four hours left until Claire leaves." I felt the wince that went through me as Chib's finished his sentence and it didn't go unnoticed as Chib's continued. "So ya' gona' tell me what the fuck ya' been doing sittin' here for the last hour while Claire is back at the club house with Gemma slowly going ape shit 'cause you stormed out on her?" _Shit I've been here for an hour, _I thought slowly, _explains why you're so fucking stiff now, _my mind spoke.

"Is she alright?" I had to make sure she was ok even though the fact that it was Chib's was standing in front of me both confused and worried me.

"No she's not, and even though she won't show it, she's hurt. What the hell did ya' do?" Chib's snapped at me.

"Why the hell do you care? You're the one who doesn't want me anywhere near her!" I was pissed now; Chib's was accusing me of hurting her without even hearing my side of everything.

"I know," Chib's spoke slowly, focusing on kicking at the dirt at his feet instead of looking at me, "But I decided something. I decided I was going to listen to her, she's a big girl now and she knows how to look after herself." I was in shock at his words; they were the closest I was going to get to a blessing from Chib's. "That doesn't mean I won't kill ya' if you hurt her in anyway, ya' got me!" I was grinning like a fool even as Chib's threatened me, "Now go back to the club house and sort whatever's wrong between the two of ya' out." I did exactly as Chib's said, gunning my engine I turned my bike back onto the road and headed for Teller-Morrow.

As I pulled into the Yard of the shop I couldn't see anyone outside so I made my way over to the club house. As I walked in, I was greeted by the smell of cigarette smoke and a wall of noise, but as I looked around I couldn't see Claire, or even Gemma for that matter anywhere.

"If you're looking for _your_ girl she's in the office," As I looked down to thank Koz I couldn't help but laugh.

"Take it Chib's gave you a present?" I knew I'd done damage to the left side of Koz's face but I couldn't help but grin as I saw that his right eye was now nearly swollen shut.

"I've learnt my lesson," As I raised my eyebrow in question, Koz continued, "Never go near a woman who's got you wrapped round her little finger or who's family to Chib's, it's just too mush hassle."

"You're a funny bastard aren't you," I spoke before I hit him up the back of the head for his, _wrapped round her little finger _comment, causing Koz to groan slightly in pain_._

"I only speak the truth brother," I flipped Koz off as I left the club house, heading in the direction of the office. As I got to the office door I saw that it was lying open, but as I looked inside I saw that Claire was sitting in the office chair, feet resting on the desk as she flipped through a bike magazine. Instead of disturbing her, I settled myself against the doorframe and waited.

"Are you just going to stand there? Or are you going to run off again after throwing some cryptic comment my way?" _She's still as feisty as ever, _I thought amused.

"Where's Gemma?" I asked trying to distract her, the glare she threw me told me it wouldn't work.

"She went home to get things ready for tonight." Claire answered shortly.

"You're staying then?" I asked, trying to hide the hope behind my words.

"I have to leave tomorrow night but after I deal with my cousin and my aunt I'm coming back." She spoke gently as she set the magazine back on the office desk, never looking away from me as she answered. "Now you know I'm going to be staying," She spoke hesitantly, "Are you going to tell me what you were talking 'bot before you ran off?"

"Chib's was the one who found me sitting on a dirt track on the edge of the road leading out of Charming," Claire's face turned confused as I spoke, "He was the one who convinced me that it was ok for me to come back here and fix us." As I spoke the last part of my sentence I gestured between us with my hand. "You think you'd be ok if there was an, _us_?" Claire didn't say anything as she stepped out from behind the table, I watched as she came to stand in front of me and it was only then did she speak.

"Do you really think I would have acted the way I have if I weren't?" Even though she was standing in front of me I still wanted her closer, grasping her hips in my hands I pulled her until her body was flushed with mine.

"I'll take that as a yes..." My voice trailing off as my eyes looked from her eyes to her mouth and back again. My body tensed slightly as Claire trailed her hands up my chest, letting them settle when they reached my neck.

"Yes," Claire spoke gently, allowing me to relax. We had arrived back in Charming in the early morning darkness, but as the now late morning sun shone through the widows of the office it caused Claire's hair to glow golden, and I couldn't resist letting my fingers rake through it, gently massaging their way up her neck. As Claire let out a soft moaning sound, tilting her head back, I let my lips press against the joint her shoulder made with her neck. I could feel Claire's fingernails scratch lightly across my scalp causing a groan to be pulled from my own throat, as I moved my mouth upwards across Claire's bare neck, placing hot open mouth kisses as I went, I felt Claire clutching me closer to her. With one hand firmly grasped in Claire's hair, the other tilted her face to mine, finally allowing me to crash my lips to hers. Spinning us round, I pushed Claire up against the wall beside us, pinning her to it with my body, focusing solely on the feeling of Claire's tongue duelling with my own as my hand slowly pushed under the hem of her tank top.

"Jesus motherfuckin' Christ!" I heard a sudden Scottish accent shout, ripping my mouth away from Claire's I turned to look at Chib's, surprised that Tig stood with him. Chib's face scrunched up in slight disgust while Tig looked like he was trying very hard to stop himself from laughing out loud.

"You guys ever think of giving Luann some pointers?" Tig finally spoke before he doubled over laughing. Turning away from them, I looked back down at Claire who was giggling silently, peeking through her fingers to check if Chib's was still there.

Seeing that me and Claire weren't about to move voluntarily Chib's spoke gruffly, "We're all needed at the club house." Before he left he growled slowly, "I never wana' hear anything," Then I watch over my shoulder as he proceeded to stomp of in the direction of the club house, Tig sniggering behind him like some child as he went.

"You're not allowed to fuck this up lov', 'cause you know he'll kill ya'." Claire's voice was light and playful but I knew the truth behind her words all too well, nodding at her I started to pull her in the direction of the club house, reaching it shortly after Chib's and Tig.

"Right," Clay started slowly, "I know we usually do this shit in church but I don't think that wee room is going to fit two Charters in it." A few chuckles were heard at his words before he continued, "As ya'll know we're about to have some trouble with the Irish, and I want to thank all of you lot for coming and helping out." There were a few _your welcomes _and gruff answers but as they stopped Clay spoke again, "With that aside we need to start talking protection for the woman..." Clay was suddenly cut of by the prospect barrelling in through the door.

"Jimmy's just appeared in Charming!" Curses rang out through the room at the prospects words, and as I turned to Claire she looked like she was ready to pass out dead.

"What? He's not meant to get here till tomorrow!" Clay roared, and as I gathered a now shaking Claire in my arms I watched as the prospect flinched.

"I know, but Jeb just called it in, he's ridding down now!"

"You keep watch at that door!" Clay ordered, and the prospect all but saluted at him, turning Clay spoke, "What the fuck are we meant to do now? I am not handing her over!"

"You sure as fuck aren't handing her over!" I growled at Clay.

"Happy," Claire spoke softly, her lips brushing against the skin of my throat as she did, teasing me slowly, _not the time buddy, _I chastised myself.

"Juice I thought you were keeping tabs on him," Clay called over to the kid.

"I was, he..." Juice was suddenly cut off by Jeb skidding through the door, grabbing onto the prospect so he didn't fall.

"Jimmy's in the next street Clay, he'll be here any second and he's not alone!"

"What the hell are we meant to do?" I growled, looking around the room.

"Why doesn't she hide," I heard some voice say, but I couldn't figure out who the voice belong to as it was dulled by the roar of blood pounding in my ears.

"Where the hell is she meant to hide?" I snapped back at Clay.

"How the fuck should I know? I didn't suggest it!" Clay snapped back at me just as quickly.

"What 'bot behind the bar?" I looked at Claire quickly, before looking at Clay then Chib's, getting a shrug from them I grabbed Claire's hand, dragging her behind the bar.

"You stay here, you don't move from this spot no matter what happens do you understand me!" I told Claire, panic seeping into my voice as I got her placed behind the bar, hiding her from sight. "Promise me," I all but begged at her.

"I won't move, I promise ya'," I soon as she'd finished speaking, I pressed my lips to hers, deepening the kiss quickly before tearing my lips from hers. As I walked to the other side of the room to stand beside Tig and Koz I watched as Chib's took up his place by the bar, my heart clenched tight , _I should be the one over there, _I hissed to myself.

The door to the Club house was suddenly throwing open with force, slamming of the back wall. I watched as a couple of men walked in first, Jimmy behind them, only to be followed by about half a dozen more men. _He think he's going into battle like that or something, _I thought, _he's only coming for a visit, _I chanted over and over again, trying to convince myself he wasn't here for Claire, but the feeling I had told me that it was a lie.

"What do you want?" Clay asked calmly as he sat down, gesturing for Jimmy to do the same.

"Please," Jimmy began, his accent obvious, "I think you know exactly what, well I really should say who I want." _When this was all over I have to remember never to play poker with Clay, _I thought with slight amusement as his face never showed any emotion as he spoke. "We can do things the easy way or the hard way Clay, it's up to you." Jimmy spoke as he leant forward on his elbows, closing the distance between him and Clay. "I know she's here Clay, her bikes in your yard." As Jimmy spoke I couldn't help the glance I threw towards the bar.

"There are a lot of bikes out there Jimmy and they all belong to _my _family." I knew by the way Clay spoke that he wasn't just protecting Claire because of their debt but because he truly saw her as family.

"Well it's a good thing I keep track of Claire's movements isn't it," A smug smirk spread across Jimmy's face, _bastard, fucking bastard, _my mind hissed at him. "You see when someone with Claire's talent manages to leave us alive we like to know where she is, what she's up to, what's she's spending her money on etc. So the fact that the Harley-Davidson 883 Iron sittin' out there has the exact same license plate number as the one, I know for a fact Claire bought, only tells me one thing." There was a moment's pause before Jimmy spoke again, anger clear in his voice, "Bring her to me now! You don't, and you'll fuckin' regret it!" I had no idea how Clay kept so clam. All I wanted to do was grab Claire form her hiding spot behind the bar, put her on the back of my bike and never look back.

"What's her crime? You can't just come in here demanding someone." Clay spoke as if he hadn't heard anything from Jimmy's rant.

"You know as well as I do Claire's talent is smuggling people out of Ireland. One of her _family's _more skilled jobs is sittin' right behind you," At Jimmy's words Chib's stiffened where he sat by the bar. It was only from my angle could you see how his hand was bent behind the bar, another, more obviously feminine hand, clasped tightly with his. "Now hand Claire over and save all of us a lot of pain and trouble brother."

"And if I say no," I realised as Clay spoke that he had bigger balls than I had ever gave him credit for, I was just praying his bigger balls saved Claire.

"You say no and you'll be watching your Old Lady get a bullet put through that pretty little head of hers," At Jimmy's blunt words the door off the club house open yet again. This time though, two men held Gemma while another came in behind them, tilting Gemma's head back so he could keep a handgun pressed tight to her temple. Chaos erupted throughout the room, my brothers voices started to rise, yelling insults at the Irish. Guns were suddenly drawn from both sides and it was only when the noise dimmed slightly did Jimmy speak. "So what's it gona' be? Death of your Old Lady or are you going to hand over Claire?" Clay looked as if he was about to be violently ill and in the pregnant pause that followed no-one dared breathe until suddenly Claire's voice echoed through the silent room.

"Fine, you win! Just let Gemma go!" If it hadn't been for Tig and Koz holding my sides I'd have been across the room in seconds at her words.

"Claire!" Jimmy let a joyous laugh as he spoke. "Tired of playing cat and mouse darlin'?" I growled as he spoke to Claire, _no-one gets to speak like that to my Claire, _I thought savagely.

"Let Gemma go and I'll come with you right now." When Jimmy didn't answer, the defeated sigh Claire let out could be heard throughout the room, before Claire's small voice spoke, "Please don't make me beg Jimmy." At her words, Tig and Koz had to fully tackle me to keep me in my spot and this time Jimmy did take notice of my movement.

"So this is the bodyguard Joanne told me you had gotten yourself," Jimmy didn't even bother to try and hide his distaste for me as he spoke. "You've lowered yourself Claire, hanging about with bikers, tut, tut, tut." He let out a small chuckle before he continued. "Come over here darlin'." At Jimmy's order Claire slowly made her way around the bar, only letting go of Chib's hand when it became absolutely necessary. As she came to stop in front of where Jimmy sat across from Clay, I watched as Jimmy rose from his seat, never looking away from Claire as he did so.

"Did you really think you could run from me?" As Jimmy finished speaking he grabbed a fistful of Claire's hair, twisting it until it caused Claire to fall to her knees in front of him. The action caused bile to rise in my throat and I struggled harder against Tig and Koz's hold, trying in vain to get out of their grasp. "Aw, look at your wee bodyguard," Jimmy spoke mockingly, "Pity not even he can save you this time."

"Let Gemma the fuck go!" Claire growled as she struggled in Jimmy's grasp. "You got me! Why the fuck would ya' wana' hold onto something that will only slow ya' down when ya' can just dump it?" I knew Claire's words were harsh, but the truth in them had Jimmy signalling to his men holding Gemma to let her go. A small amount of relief went through me as I watched Gemma crawl into Clay's waiting arms.

"Now for the hard part," Jimmy spoke, "How am I going to deal with ya'?" This time it was Chib's who spoke out.

"Jimmy you son of a bitch! Let her go!" Pure hatred flowed through the Scots words.

"Careful, careful Chib's, wouldn't want anything else to happen to that pretty little face of yours now would we." If it hadn't been for the sudden movement of Jax and Opie, who now had Chib's locked in a position similar to the one Tig and Koz had me in, Chib's would have launched himself at Jimmy, something I would have fully supported. "Keep your dog on a leash," Jimmy sneered as he watched Chib's fight against Jax and Opie's hold.

"I'll come to you!" Claire's sudden words had Jimmy looking at her now, "I'll meet you at the border of Charming at midnight tonight."

"And why would I believe you?" Jimmy snapped.

"You'll kill all of 'em if I don't show." It wasn't a question, but at Jimmy's nod Claire continued, "I won't let you kill 'em so you don't have to worry 'bot me not showing."

**So there you go :) another chapter done, sorry if there's any errors :/ I hope you enjoyed it ^^ and I just want to say thank you to those who reviewed and I hope that you'll review more along with the rest of you :D let me know what you think xo**


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay I'm really sorry it took me so long to update things have been kinda mental this end lol so here you are :) I'd also like to say a big thanks to all those who have reviewed, put this as one of their favourite or even put it as an alert :D**

**This is a warning to tell you that there is mature content in this chapter that might offend some readers and to read at your own risk.**

**Other than that enjoy :D xo**

Chapter 7

After all the years I had lived through I had been shot, stabbed, beaten, tortured and even shunned by people I both knew and didn't know, but even the combined pain of all those events that I had been forced to live through, none of them came close to measuring up to the pain I felt at this precise moment.

I watched unmoving in Tig and Koz's tight grasp as Claire agreed to meet with Jimmy. Even though I felt pride as she stood up for SAMCRO and the club the fear that had settled in my gut seemed to be taking over. Silence had settled over the club house as everyone watched Jimmy and his guys leave, it was only when the club house door slammed shut behind the last of them was the silence broken.

"Claire ya' can't honestly be tellin' me that your gona' give 'em Fiona and Kerri-Anne," Chib's asked slowly.

"It was either that or the club." Claire never moved from where she had been forced to the floor earlier as she answered, "Everyone has their kryptonite and somehow Jimmy figured out that mine was the club."

"They're your family!" Chib's snapped at her.

"My _aunt _is nothing to do with me, she chose Jimmy over everything and _everyone._" The way she stressed the word _everyone _it left it in no mind who she was talking about, "And my cousin..." Claire paused after the mention of her cousin and before she could answer Chib's cut in.

"So you think its right to hand over your family?" Chib's voice was starting to rise but Claire never moved or showed any reaction to him at all.

"Sometimes blood can only stretch so far." At Claire's answer Chib's Scottish accent echoed round the club room, a string a curses falling from his mouth before he turned, storming off in the direction of the dorm rooms only stopping as he passed the bar to grab a bottle of whiskey from one of the shelves behind it.

"Claire you can't," Clay started to speak as Chib's disappeared from sight but Claire cut him off quickly.

"If the next word's to come out of your mouth hav' anythin' to do with selling out my family I won't be held responsible for my actions." I noticed that her words were starting to sound more like my Claire's normal self. I watched as she rose from her spot on the floor, a sigh of relief went through me as she did so. "And if you really think I'd let my family suffer in any way ya' might want to rethink your image of me Clay, and fast."

"Then what was all that about with Chib's?" Clay growled, quickly coming to the defence of his brother.

"I needed him out of the way and the easiest way I could see of doing that was gettin' him to storm off and let him go drink himself unconscious." The confused look that crossed Clay's features told me I wasn't the only one who was wondering what the fuck Claire was going on about. "You see I'm gona' be taken Jimmy on a wild goose chase, one that my uncle wouldn't let me go on if he knew 'bot it 'cause he'd understand the ending of it." It took me a moment to realise what Claire was actually talking about, but when her plan came into focus in my head, I felt the anger rise within me.

"No fucking way are you allowed to do that!" I bellowed at Claire as I stormed my way over to where she stood in the middle of the room, easily slipping out of Tig and Koz's now loosened grasp that once held me.

"You don't get a choice Hap'," Claire yelled back at me as I came to a halt in front of her, "I can't let _him _hurt my family." We all knew who the '_him'_ Claire spoke of was without her having to explain anything.

"And _I_ can't let them hurt you!" My voice was softer now but the passion was still contained within it, I cupped her cheek, forcing her to look at me as I heard Jax speak.

"I think we should at least hear her plan Happy before we write it off completely," Jax said from his perch by the pool table. "That way we can see what we can take from it and work _together _on a new plan of action," I liked the way Jax was thinking, but the frown that had appeared across Claire's brow worried me.

"It's simple; I lead Jimmy and his goon's in one direction while my guys take Fiona and Kerrie-Anne the other, preferably across the Canadian border." _Fuck that is simple, _I thought, _pity there's a lot of variables that could cause that plan to fail, _my mind countered.

"But what happens when Jimmy realises you've played him doll?" Tig's voice called across the room. Silence answered his question and when I looked down at Claire for an answer, her eyes were looking everywhere but at me.

"Claire," I knew my voice sounded pathetic but I couldn't help it. "Please, don't let that be your plan?" Realisation dawned over me as I figured out just what she was going to let Jimmy do. _Same thing you've done to people who've tried to play the club, _my mind spoke, rubbing salt into my now fresh wound.

"I can't let him have any of my family and by the time he's realised everything, you lot will hav' had time to prepare." I could feel my knee's starting to buckle under my weight, it caused my grasp on Claire tightened, hoping for some support.

"You've no choice." Claire's statement had my knees buckling completely causing me to crash to the floor in front of her.

"So this is why you sent Chib's away." I asked breathlessly, unable to look up at her from my spot on the floor.

"If there had been any other way I could have got you to leave with him I would have done it. You don't deserve what I'm putting you through Hap'." As she spoke she knelt down with me, cupping my face in her small hands, forcing me to look at her, and I felt my chest tighten as I noticed how full of sorrow her face was. "Happy, I'm …" She never got to finish her sentence before my mouth crashed into hers, silencing what I couldn't bring myself to hear with a kiss.

"We can do it a different way," At those words my head shot up to look at Tig, hope flared within me. "We could always send a bunch of guys with her, following all of them and when everything starts becoming _ interesting,_" Tig let out a sadistic laugh at his own joke before her continued, "We pull the plug on all are problems with Jimmy and his guys."

"They'd know it was us," I spoke gruffly. I liked this plan, this plan meant I could keep Claire with me, and more importantly alive. _You're fully whipped now man, _my mind chuckled, _better start firing up those tattoo guns of yours because you're going to be needing them soon. _Before I could even contemplate what my mind was saying Jax spoke.

"Not if we pinned it on someone else," Tig cocked his head at Jax's suggestion, scowling slightly as a smug smile settled over Jax's features when he caught Tig's look.

"Who would ya' pin it on?" Claire's curious voice asked suddenly, drawing me away from Jax and Tig and back to her, "'Cause a lot of people know 'bot your _friendship _with Jimmy and the Irish, it'd be hard to cover up."

"True," Jax spoke, his jaw clenching slightly as the flaw in his plan became apparent.

"Who's had trouble with the Irish recently?" Juice asked from his typical spot near the computers.

"Mayans," The sound of Chib's deep Scottish accent filled the room, causing most of us to turn are heads in surprise at his appearance, and I also heard the small gasp Claire let out from shock at seeing her uncle's sudden presence.

"How long hav' ya' been standin' there?" Claire asked gently from her spot by my side. I looked down at her, noticing how she had ended up curled tight up against my side, one of my arms was wrapped tight around her shoulders while the other hand gripped her thigh, holding her right leg over both of mine, making sure to keep her pressed tight against me, securing that she didn't move away.

"Don't worry sweetheart, he's been here long enough to know about your suicide mission," The growl I let out caused Tig's smug smile to fall from his lips.

"I'm sorry princess," Chib's started slowly as he walked out of the shadows of the door way and out into the light of the club house. "I guess I need to remind myself that you are exactly like that brother of mine." He let out a small chuckle before he continued to speak, "Loyal like a dog and would bleed like a fuckin' martyr if needs be, now tell me how this _new _and more _realistic _plans gona' go."

In the next two hours that passed, and after much coffee running by the prospect we managed to settle on what was really going to happen. Something that I made sure didn't involve Claire getting shot, _thank god! _Me, Tig, Koz and Chib's would ride after Claire, Jimmy and his men, keeping tabs on everything they got up to until the time came to grab Claire and finally end our Jimmy problem. While we were away the rest of the guys were going to safety proof the club house and the garage in case anything unfortunately went wrong. They would also be making sure that if things did go bad, that there would be somewhere safe for the woman and children of the club to go. Claire's guys were still going to take Fiona and Kerrie-Anne across the Canadian border but there was a change to their plan to. They were going to make one final stop before the disappeared for good.

"God my arse is so numb," Claire grumbled into my shoulder causing a round of chuckles to filter through the room.

"Agreed lov'," Chib's called as he fidgeted on the stool he was sitting on beside the bar. "I think we could all use a break or something."

"Yes we definitely could, you four especially need to sleep," Clay spoke, looking around the room, pausing to focus at Tig, Chib's and myself before finally settling on Claire, "You need it most, you're going to need your wits about you tonight." Clays words caused me to tighten my grip around Claire's shoulders, we might have came to a decision about what was going to happen and how Claire was going to act but that didn't mean I had to like the fact that we had to hand Claire over to Jimmy and his men tonight, even if I knew we were going to be tailing them the whole time.

"I can handle Jimmy just fine Clay, ya' don't hav' to worry 'bot that," A small smile appeared on Claire's lips as she spoke but it was brief and unconvincing, even to her it seemed.

"You still need your sleep though," Clay said in a fatherly tone.

"Fine," Claire said tiredly, "In that case can someone give me a lift to the mottle?"

"Ya' can't stay in a mottle when we're knee deep in this shite!" Chib's snapped, "Jimmy's gunnin' after ya' and ya' want to go for a drive? No fuckin' way!" I agreed fully with Chib's outburst, no way was I going to let Claire out of my sight for as long as I could.

"You can stay in my dorm room if you want," At my offer Chib's looked slightly ill but I didn't care, I was more worried about Claire's reaction. As I looked down at her I saw that she had a small smile pulling at her lips, her smile was enough to reassure me that my offer was the defiantly the right move.

"I think I like that plan lov'," As she spoke she began to stretch her legs out before she began to get up, turning to watch me as I did the same. "Lead the way sweetheart."

I shuck my head at Claire's silly attitude before I grasped her hand in mine before leading her out of the club house. I could still hear the voices of my brothers as I pulled Claire further along the corridor of the dormitories until we had reached the furthest dorm form the club house, _mine. _

"So this is where the big, bad killa' sleeps," Claire stage whispered as I began to unlock the door, I couldn't help the chuckle that I let out.

"You think you're going to be safe in here then babe," I answered, keeping my voice low to keep her charade going.

"I think my big, bad biker can keep me safe," She let out a small, sexy giggle before she walked into the room, swaying her hips in front of me as she went. "Here do ya' mind if I use the toilet?" She asked, as she got a nod from me she skipped into the bathroom and as the door clicked shut I threw myself down on my bed with a groan. _So unbelievably fucking tired, _I grunted inwardly. At the sound of the bathroom door reopening I pushed my body up on my arms, cocking my head as I watched Claire lean against the set of drawers across from where I sat.

"I want you wired." I said suddenly, interrupting the comfortable silence that had settled around us.

"No," She answered bluntly, not looking away from me, defiance sparkling in her eyes.

"I want to make sure I know what's happening if something goes wrong." I growled at her.

"If I wear a wire there's a higher chance I'll die so no I'm not wearin' it." Claire turned slowly away from me, grabbing tightly to the top of the set of drawers.

"I need to make sure I know what's happening if something goes wrong." I said as I slowly rose from my seat on the bed.

"If it goes wrong you won't have a choice in what happens!" Claire spun round, her eyes furious as are gazes finally locked.

"That doesn't mean I have to like what will happen if it goes wrong and I could have stopped it!" I growled back at her, my anger continuing to rise.

"Well tough shit Happy, 'cause for the last ten years I've been watchin' my _own _back just fine," She all but hissed back at me.

"And what, you think I like that?" I threw back at her, "You shouldn't have to be the one looking after your own back! You should be allowed to act like someone your age does!" As soon as the words left my mouth I knew it was the wrong thing to say.

"My age!"She snapped, "My age!What the hell has my age got to do with it?" She spat, "I do what I was born into, looking over my back is just a small price to pay and my age makes no fuckin' difference to it or what happens."

Silence fell over us and I realised for the first time how close were we're to each other, we were both breathing deeply, the effects of our shouting still apparent on us. With nothing left to say I grabbed her hips, dragging her flush to me, ripping at the button at her pants, her arms grasped desperately at my shoulders as our lips crashed together, passion fuelling all our actions.

As I turned Claire, pushing her in the direction of the bed I felt her nails scratching up across my abs, letting out a low growl I ripped myself away from her, pulling my shirt and cut off in one move not caring were they ended up as I threw them across the room.

"Christ Hap'," Claire let out breathlessly causing my skin to tingle from where her breath hit it. I slowly ran my hand up under her tight t-shirt until my hand skimmed the skin under her breast causing a strangled moan to come from her, at the sound I let out a deep chuckle earning an amused scowl.

As Claire's knee's hit the edge of my bed she began to tumble backwards onto it, grasping tightly at my shoulders as she fell making sure I went with her. Before we landed I managed to strip Claire's t-shirt from her and at the feeling of the soft skin against mine I knew I needed more. Removing my mouth from Claire's I made my way slowly across her jaw, nipping, sucking and licking as I went. Claire's whole body arched as I bit harder than I had been planning on at the point where her neck and shoulder met. As she pressed her body tight against mine I couldn't help the groan the fell from my mouth, as she arched I slowly slid my hand up across her back unsnapping her bra smoothly and dragging it from her body as she flattened out on the bed.

Pulling one of Claire's nipples between my teeth I bite at it gently before suckling on it to smooth away the sting. I watched through heavy eyelids as Claire threw her head from side to side on my pillows, loud moans continuously falling from between her red, full, kiss swollen lips.

"You don't play fair," I heard Claire gasp, her nails scratching at the nape of my neck drawing a groan from me, "You're such an asswhole."

"Fuck you," I growled playfully at her, moving my body up so that I was fully lying on her.

"Please," At her breathless plea I lost the remaining control I had over my need for her. Removing myself from the cradle of her body I pulled Claire's jeans and panties down in on go, Claire right on my tail, struggling to remove me own jeans from my body. Pulling me back down to the bed with her, I felt as Claire linked her legs high around my waist then slowly dragged her legs downwards taking my jeans and boxers with her in one go.

At the feel off her completely ready and naked under me, I entered her quickly, fast and hard. At Claire's moan of pleasure I hitched her leg higher around my waist, changing the angle and allowing me to drive further inside of her. At the feel of Claire's sharp nails scratching down my back, I knew there would be marks and I couldn't help but enjoy the sharp contrast of pain and pleasure of the simple action.

"I'm the only one who is going to be looking after you now." I spoke gruffly into Claire's ear, "I am the _only _person who will be looking after you after all this is done." I emphasized each of my sentences with sharp, forceful thrust, causing Claire to moan out louder than ever.

"_Yes,_" It was a drawn out sound and the only sign that Claire seemed to be willing to give at that moment in time. Deftly I moved my hand between our conjoined bodies, slowly moving it between her perked breasts, across the smooth skin of her stomach until I came to the bundle of nerves that was nestled at the apex of her legs.

"You're mine!" I spoke through gritted teeth as I rubbed hard at her clit. As I continued to pound hard into her whilst rubbing at her clit waiting for her response I felt Claire tighten around me, her walls clamping down hard on my dick.

"Fuck!" Claire's voiced screamed as I felt her contracting around me, shouldering and moaning loudly through her orgasm.

I pounded my fist into the pillow beside Claire's head, letting my head fall into her shoulder, still thrusting in and out of her, biting down hard on her neck as I tried to draw out her orgasm while fighting my own off. It didn't work. Lifting my head out of Claire's shoulder, I let out a loud roar as my own orgasm hit me. I clasped Claire's body close to mine as we both road through our highs, struggling to catch our breath.

As I lay there, Claire still under me I felt the sweat that dripped down my neck, pulling between my shoulder blades as it cooled. It wasn't until Claire pulled my face up to hers did I realise that I still hadn't opened my eyes.

"I don't want to lose you," I spoke before my brain realised my mouth had opened.

"You won't," She spoke softly, her hand slowly stroking my cheek, "I promise ya'."

"You can't do that, not in this life." I was never known for being someone who sugar coated things, and even though it hurt, I didn't see the point in starting now.

"Then why don't we just enjoy what we hav' then lov'," Claire spoke sleepily, her accent thicken with her tiredness.

Nodding I rolled over unto my side, making sure that Claire staid tucked close to me as I went. Even though I fell asleep quickly, the worry that had settled in my gut about what was about to happen never left me, it only caused me to pull Claire tighter to me as I succumbed into sleeps embrace.

**So that's chapter 7 over lol hope you liked it but all you have to do now is push that little button and review ^^ thanks for reading xo**


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay sorry for the wait, this chapter caused me some problems :/ lol plus I've been busy with injuries, training and work but hey its down lol so I hope you enjoy :) xo**

Chapter 8

As I woke slowly from my deep sleep, the warmth and feel of another body, curled tightly against my own had me reaching unconsciously for the gun I kept in the top shelf of my bedside cabinet. It was a reflex I had acquired shortly after I had joined SAMCRO, n_ever can be too careful, _my mind mused quietly.

"Happy," At the sleep filled mumble of my name in a thick Irish accent that I could never forget; everything in my sleep clouded mind came into focus. Everything that had happened this morning and between myself and Claire came back to me in a sudden rush. The onslaught of memories caused me to tighten the protective grasp I had on Claire's naked body rather possessively. The change of my hold caused Claire to snuggle further into the grasp I had around her. Claire's wriggling movements caused me to let out a strangled groan of pleasure as her thigh brushed up against my newly formed erection. "Looks like someone's happy to see me," Claire's still sleep filled voice spoke, teasing and amusement clear in her words.

"Do you blame me?" I asked back as I watched Claire prop herself up on her hands that now lay on my chest so that she could see me properly. "I have this beautiful Irish chick, naked and will laying on my chest, wiggling her tight little body around on top of me. It's only a natural reaction sugar." As I spoke a sly grin began to pull at my lips, Claire's tinkling laugh rang out through my dorm room, causing me to let out a gruff laugh at her easy amusement.

"Well seeing as it's a natural reaction," Claire purred as she recovered from her laughing, "It's only natural for us to take care of it, shouldn't we lov'?" Her eyes sparkled as she finished speaking and I cocked my eyebrow in question at her.

"And what exactly would you have in mind cupcake?" I asked sceptically.

"Well ya' see, my big, bad biker took _very _good care of me earlier..."

"I can assure you princess that it was _all _his pleasure," I spoke cutting her off and earning a playful glare from her before it lifted from her features, only to be replaced by a sly grin of her own.

"Be that as it may lov'," The purr was back in her voice and my dick twitched at the sound. "I still think _my _biker needs a proper thank you, don't you?" I could only nod in agreement, my voice seemed to have stopped working all of a sudden, and my inability to speak caused Claire to chuckle smugly. "So obedient," She purred as she started to kiss along my collar bone, nipping gently at the skin there before moving up and along my neck. I growled deeply as Claire bit sharply at my earlobe, at the action one of my hands shot up to tangle in Claire's short, blonde hair while the other sat in the middle of her back, holding Claire possessively tight to my body, not allowing her to move even an inch from me. "I hav' a secret, a secret I just know that _my _biker would lov' to know 'bot," She whispered both huskily and sexually straight into my ear, "Would ya' like to know what it is biker boy?" Claire nipped hard at my earlobe again as she finished her question, before she gently soothed the sting her bite had caused as she sucked my earlobe into her mouth.

"Yes," I hissed out, both in answer to Claire's question and also as a plea for her to continue what she was doing with her mouth and teeth. She pulled her mouth away from my throat, causing me to glare at her but it didn't affect the smug smile that sat proud on her lips.

"If ya' keep lookin' at me like that lov' I won't tell ya' what my little secret is." I could hear the teasing in her voice but I blanked my facial expression as she continued, "And trust me, you're really gona' want to know what it is." As she spoke she moved back to my neck where she whispered, "I was born with a non-existent gag reflex." My self control snapped. I grabbed the back of Claire's neck, pulling her away from the hollow of my throat so that I could crash my lips to hers. The groan I let out couldn't be helped. The only image that was running through my head was an image of Claire's as she used that warm, wet mouth of hers to swallow me from tip to base.

"Claire?" I heard the unsure voice of the prospect call as he knocked on the door of my dorm room.

"Fuck off prospect!" I bellowed from my place on the bed, as Claire straddled my hips and started to trail her lips down my neck again causing a moan to fall from between my parted lips. As she passed my collar bone and reached one of my nipples she gently nipped at it with her teeth, scratching the other neglected nipple with her nails. I let out a hiss, one of pleasure and pain and my hips bucked up against Claire involuntarily, seeking out the friction that my now weeping cock so badly yearned for.

"Um..." The prospects voice sounded again from behind the door, _shit,_ my mind hissed having completely forgotten that he was still standing there after all of two seconds. "Chib's told me I had to come and get Claire." _Cock blocking, mother fucking, Scots man! _The growl I let out was one full of rage and siding on feral.

"Tell that son of a bitch he can have her when I fucking say! Fucker doesn't own her!" Claire's quiet giggle had me glaring down at her, "What?" I snapped at her laughing features.

"Who owns me then, seeing as my family ain't allowed to?" _Fuck, fuck, fuck. _Claire's giggle was a full blown laugh now as she watched my face contort with panic. "It's ok lov' I don't mind," She spoke taking pity on me, "I'll go see what he wants."

"No!" I snapped quickly, grabbing hold of Claire by the hips as she tried to get up out of my bed and leave, "You're not going anywhere until we have _finished_." The mischievous glint in her eyes told me Claire knew exactly what I wanted to do.

"You really wana' do it while your prospect listens to us out in the hallway?" Even though Claire's words were meant to be putting me off, the rotating of her hips as she spoke didn't help a lot with distracting me. Instead it caused a deep groan to be drawn from me, "'Cause I'm sure you're the only one who wants to hear me screamin'." Her voice had taken up the purring tone I loved so much. _I would do anything she asked me to as long as she asked it with that voice_, I thought silently to myself. As my grasp loosened only slightly around Claire's hips she slipped stealthy from between my hands before darting towards the door. "Yeo, prospect you still there?"

"Um... Yes?" A small voice answered Claire's question.

"Go tell Chib's I'll be out there in about ten minutes, I just need to grab a shower and that I'm gona' beat him round the back of the head for interruptin'!" Claire never waited for an answer to her order simply started to make her way towards my bathroom. Before she made it to the bathroom door she bent over to pick up her clothes that were strewn across the floor, allowing me a front row seat to her beautiful ass wiggling in front of me before she straightened up and disappeared of into the bathroom, the door closing shut with a click behind her.

As I lay in my bed I could hear the constant stream of water running in the shower and I couldn't help the growl that formed in my throat as the image of Claire's wet and naked body in the shower popped into my mind. "Fuck," I whispered to myself as I flung my legs round so that my feet were able to lay flat on the ground by my bed, my elbows balancing on my knees, "I've got it bad." Shaking my head at myself, I pushed myself up into a standing position, stretching as I started to make my way over to the drawers across the room from me so that I could get some clean clothes. As I looked over my shoulder I caught a glimpse at the read glowing lights of the alarm clock that sat on my bedside table, _5.38 pm, _it read. The red glowing numbers seem to be trying to torture me. The afternoon had disappeared unnoticed and now the night was closing in, slowly counting down the minutes until midnight.

"Here, Hap'," Claire's voice caused me to be pulled from my spiralling thoughts.

"What?" I snapped harshly.

"Jesus what crawled up your arse and died." Claire snipped back at my just as quick and harshly. Sighing in defeat I spoke again, this time more softly.

"What's the problem sweetheart?"

"Better," Claire mumbled before she continued in her normal tone of voice, "I was gona' ask if it was ok for me to wear your shirt until I had time to go find some new, clean clothes." The thought of Claire walking around the garage in _my _clothes in front of all my brothers had me smiling despite the situation.

"You really need to ask that darling?" I said with a chuckle, smile clear on my face.

"I thought I'd just check didn't want ya' goin' ape shit and all big, bad, scary biker on my ass." She said with a snort, but as she finished speaking she turned to face me sticking her tongue at me in a very child like manner before she went and sat on the bed, reaching for her boots as she sat.

"What does Chib's need you for anyway?" I asked suddenly, I noticed the way Claire paused at my question, freezing in her process of lacing her boots. "Claire?" I asked gently, "What does he want you for?"

"He's gettin' me to talk to my da'," Her voice was cold as she spoke, "He told me 'bot it earlier, said I had to talk to my da' before everythin' went down, just in case anythin' went wrong."

"And you don't want to?" I asked, genuinely curious as to why she didn't want to talk to her father.

"He's kinda' too busy with my brother's to notice or care 'bot whether or not I die." Her blunt words were void of emotion and confusion swept through me because of them.

"Claire..." I began to speak but I couldn't continue even if I wanted to because Claire jumped up from her spot on the bed and silenced me by placing her lips on mine.

"This is somethin' not even you killa' can fix," And with those words she disappeared out of my room, the door closing firmly behind her.

I spent the rest of the night working on my bike, cleaning and checking my weapons, packing my duffel with spare clothes and shit I thought I might need during the run and securing my bedding roll to the back of my bike just like Tig and Koz had done. As I worked I noticed how Chib's bike sat in the yard, packed and waiting, his duffel sitting propped against his bike, after I had noticed Chib's bike I had looked around for Claire's but it seemed to be nowhere in sight. I hadn't seen Claire since she had left me alone, my mind reeling, in my dorm room earlier and ever since I had left my dorm room I hadn't caught a glimpse of Chib's either. Even though I hadn't seen either of them I had still heard them and I wasn't the only one. Chib's and Claire had taken over the office, locking themselves in there, not letting anyone in there or interrupt them. They still hadn't ventured from the office and it had been over four hours now since they had gone in. Every now and then we would hear Chib's Scottish accent and Claire's Irish accent vying for dominance while the static on the speaker that was hooked up to one of the phones so that it could go on loud speaker went wild. At times when the yelling became so loud it was unavoidable not to listen, the whole garage descended into silence, all of us trying to hear something, anything that would help us to understand what was going on in there.

"What the fuck are they doing in there?" Kos whispered as another particularly loud screaming match began to start up.

"I don't know," I answered, the anguish clear in my voice.

"Tig, you know them two better than us, what are they doing?" As Koz asked his question again Tig had barely any time to muster up an answer before the office door exploded open and an extremely pissed of looking Claire came storming out, cursing the whole time.

"And ya' can tell that mother fuckin' Da' of mine that the next time he tries to tell me what to do just 'cause he thinks that 'cause of his patch and 'cause he has a dick means he had power over me I'll skin him alive! I swear to god and all his saints I'll kill him!" Venom dripped from all of Claire's words as she spat them at Chib's, Claire's angry outburst was enough to seen anyone into hiding.

"Claire! He's your Da'! What do ya' expect him to say?" At Chib's voice, Claire spun round so that she was once again facing him, fire burning bright in her eyes.

"He could be a little more fuckin' grateful that I'm helpin' to get rid of one of his main problems! Helpin' the club he _claims _to love so much out! Oh! And you know what else? He could actually give a shit 'bot the fact that his one and only daughter could seriously fuckin' die doing what I'm 'bot to do!" By the end of Claire's outburst the whole of the yard was in dead, pure silence and I watched as Claire's chest rose and fell as her breath came in short, fast pants.

"Claire, your Da' loves ya'," Chib's said gruffly.

"Then why did he tell me he never wanted me to come back at my Ma's funeral? Why did he choose my brothers over me? Tell me why, just now he told me that _his _life and the life of _his _family's was so much better now that I was out of it?" I couldn't take it anymore. I rushed from my place beside the guys and ran over to where Claire stood, gathering her in my arms second before she collapsed into tears.

"What the hell is going on?" Clay's gruff voice call from across the lot, and as I looked up I saw how Gemma's eye's were trained on Claire shivering body that I was holding tight to my body.

"Family problems," Chib's grumbled as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly with his hand.

"Claire, baby," Gemma spoke as silence started to surround all of us again, "You want to come with me and we'll get you a drink and we can talk, and you can calm down a little." Claire nodded weakly in my arms before she pulled away from me, my arms falling to my sides heavily as I watched her shuffle her way over to where Gemma was standing, pulling _my_ shirt tighter around her as she went. As Claire and Gemma disappeared through the doors of the club house together I turned quickly glaring hard at Chib's.

"What the hell did you do her?" I growled at him. "I swear to Christ Chib's if you've done anything to hurt her I will kill you!"

"Happy," Koz spoke from my side, placing his hand on my shoulder trying in vain to calm me but I just shuck him off.

"It's not what you think!" Chib's snapped back at me, his own glare forming on his scared face.

"Then please, tell me what the fuck I'm meant to be thinking because _my_ girl just broke down crying in _my _arms!" As I spoke some of my brothers cocked their heads in question and surprise at my statement. It was then that I realised that this was the first time that I had openly admitted my claim on Claire.

"Your girl? _Your girl! _Wana' tell me when she became yours? 'Cause last time I checked she was her own damn person, someone who didn't belong to _anyone_!" As Chib's yelled back at me he started to move away from the office doorway and closer towards me.

"Yeo! Assholes!" Jax called out, causing both me and Chib's to turn our heads in the direction of his voice. As I looked at Jax I noticed how he was standing at Clay's side, _must have sorted out their differences, _I guessed as a result of their close proximity to each other. "We have a couple of hours left before we have to head out to the border line and a couple of hours until the two of you have to say goodbye to Claire. Are you two really going to tell me that you'd rather stand here and possibly beat the shit out of each other rather than go be with Claire?" The silence that fell over us was enough of an answer for Jax and he turned to Clay, "Mum got Claire calmed down, she's checking that the clothes and stuff she brought for Claire were ok."

"Good, good," Clay spoke with a nod of his head before he turned to look at me and Chib's. "If you two can't pull your shit together and sort out your problems with each other then I'll pull the pair of you off this!" At his warning a chill ran down my spine, no way in hell was I letting Claire anywhere out of my sight if I could help it.

"Were just fine," I growled out through my gritted teeth, throwing a quick glare at Chib's for good measure over my shoulder before I walked off towards where my bike was sitting. As I reached my bike, I stood there just staring at it, checking that everything looked in good working order.

"You know people are going to think you're a shit liar if you keep this up." At the sudden sound of Claire's voice my head shot up form where I had been staring, but I never turned to face her. "Throwin' glares at people your _fine _with isn't a good way to prove to someone that you're level headed with everythin' and everyone around ya'."

"How much did you hear?" I asked with a sigh.

"You not gona' look at me then?" Her voice was low and soft and if my hearing hadn't been as good as I'd trained it to be I would have missed it. "And I followed Jax out he didn't know, Gemma didn't either she was in the kitchen last time I looked."

"Claire what I said..."

"No!" Claire's voice growled louder this time not allowing me to finish, "Ya' don't get to take back what you said in front of your brothers. You either meant it or you were talkin' bullshit. So which one was it?" Claire's passionate side was one of the reasons I had fallen hard for her, but at times like this I would have really appreciated it if she showed a little bit of blind acceptance.

"You really fucking think I'd want to take back what I said?" I snarled back at her, my patience wearing thin because of her accusations.

"Then what the hell is your problem?" Claire growled back.

"You! You're my fucking problem! The fact that I can't get you out of my head for more than two fucking seconds! The fact that I was about to kill Chib's, _your _uncle, _your _blood because he made you cry! The fact that I don't think I'll be able to manage if you don't come back for this thing with the Irish unharmed!" By the end of my outburst I turned and saw Claire had the doe eyed, caught in the headlights expression plastered on her features and I was breathing fast and hard.

"Happy..." Claire started before I cut her off.

"I can't take what I said in front of my brothers back and I don't bloody want to! I'm to fucking selfish to let you go! I've fallen hard for you and I don't want you to disappear like every other person I've loved has!" Staring at Claire now, I knew she had stopped breathing so I rushed over to her. "Claire, baby, you need to breathe for me."

"I'm not gona' leave you Happy, I already promised ya' that." Claire voice was gentle; as she spoke she covered my hands that cupped her face with her own.

"After this all goes down you're coming back here, to Charming, to your family." My words were an order but Claire always had to push her boundaries.

"Give me a reason biker boy," She spoke, a smirk pulling at the corner of her lips.

"You want a reason? I'll give you a reason," I said with a chuckle, "My _Old Lady _doesn't live on the road, she stays with me." My words caused a smile I had never seen before to grace Claire's lips. It was a smile that was filled with pure, unadulterated happiness, and for once in my chaotic life, looking into Claire's smile I felt at peace, I felt at home.

**So there it is Chapter 8 done, sorry if there were any errors but hopefully you enjoyed it so let me know what you thought about it by clicking that review button ;) lol thanks for reading xo**

**Ps. I forgot to mention at the top, thanks to everyone who's reviewed, made this story a favourite or made this story an alert I appreciate all the support you've given me so far :D xo**


	9. Chapter 9

**I want to say a thank you those who reviewed :D that just amuck my day lol and thanks to those who've added this as a favourite story ^^ I hope you like this chapter you might think it had no relevance but trust me it does :)**

**Okay there's a bit of smut in this chapter but nothing explicit so read at your own risk :/ but other than that I hope you enjoy xo **

Chapter 9

By the time half ten finally rolled by everything was set. The bikes had been checked, the guns double checked, ammo loaded carefully and spares stashed elsewhere and duffels were packed but there was only one thing that wasn't ready, _Claire_.

"You can't actually be serious?" I asked a tone of utter confusion in my voice as I listened to Claire speak.

"I. Am." Claire punctuated lowly, repeating the same words she had spoke to me just seconds ago.

"What are you going to ride?" I asked, still as confused as before.

"Not it!" Claire spoke sharply; I could see the frustration rising in her the more she spoke.

"But..." I started to speak but I never got the chance to finish as Claire cut me off quickly.

"I'm not takin' the damn bike! So don't even think 'bot puttin' the fuckin' GPS chip near it!" Claire huffed dramatically.

"Why the hell aren't you taking your fucking bike?" I growled at her, slowly loosing what patience I possessed within me.

"'Cause I don't want another one to end up gettin' filled full of bloody bullet holes that's why!" Claire argued back, glaring hard at me as she spoke.

"_Another one?" _I snapped at her, "What the hell do you mean by 'another one'?" My blood was running cold in my veins at her words.

"Happy, calm down," Claire spoke gently at me. I noticed she spoke to me as if I was some wild animal that needed calming and at the moment, if I was being honest, that was exactly what I felt like. "It's not as bad as your makin' it out to be in that head of yours," I heard Claire's Irish accent speaking soothingly.

"Then please tell me what the hell I'm meant to be thinking." My voice sounded exhausted but I couldn't help it, _another one, _and my mind kept repeating Claire's words over and over again as if it was stuck on a fucking loop or something. _How many bikes had she got shot up? How often had she been on a bike when it got shot up? How many times had Claire gotten shot herself? _My mind was running a mile and minute and as it ran on it kept conjuring up worse and worse questions that my mind couldn't answer. I was so distracted that I didn't even notice that Claire had closed the distance between us and was now standing in front of me and trying to get me to look down at her.

"Hap' come back to me," Claire's calming voice slowly brought me back into reality and out of the mind fuck that I was rapidly descending into. "You're not allowed to lose it on me at the moment, I kinda' need ya' to keep your shit together in that head of yours and keep focused on what's 'bot to go down. Don't lose it on me just 'cause ya' heard somethin' 'bot me past ya don't like." I felt myself nodding slowly as I tried to clear my head of everytin' that wasn't necessary and slowly the garage where Claire and I were standing in came back into focus.

"When we get back and this all gets sorted, we need to have a serious talk about what shit you've got up to," I said it as an order but I knew that if Claire didn't want to talk about her past that she'd manage to find a way of wriggling her way out of it.

"Whateva' ya' say old man," Claire said with a chuckle as she began to walk away from me and out of the workshop but I grabbed her by her wrist and pulled her into my chest, securing her to my body by wrapping my arms loosely around her waist.

"Old man?" I questioned her with a slight growl but the smile I saw grace her lips let me know that Claire knew I wasn't really mad at her.

"Yea, but your _my _old man," Claire said proudly. I couldn't help the chuckle that Claire's proud voice pulled from me.

"You're stuck with me now darling," I spoke lightly, leaning forward so that I could trail me lips across her collar bone. My actions caused a deep sigh to fall from Claire's slightly parted lips and her body shiver in my arms and I was certain it had nothing to do with the cold breeze that went through the workshop. I could feel the smug smile that was pulling at the corner of my lips because of her reactions to me and I did nothing to hide it.

"Just so you know that works both ways sweetheart," I said huskily as I pulled Claire tighter to my body and sealed my lips to hers. The moment our mouths fused together I pried Claire's lips apart so that I could thrust my tongue into her mouth allowing our tongues to duel passionately. The moan Claire let out into my mouth could have reviled a porn stars but I swallowed it happily and it set my body on fire. The '_secret_' Claire had told me about earlier was still very prominent in my mind and just the thought of Claire's hot, wet mouth swallowing me had me groaning in pleasure. Before I even realised what I was doing I had managed to spin Claire around so that I had pushed her up onto the hood of the car that had been sitting behind me waiting to be repaired and as I stopped to take a much needed breath I saw how Claire was now lying ready, breathing hard and looking extremely flushed on the hood of the car.

"Happy," At the long drawn out sound of my name falling from Claire's lips I pushed myself further into the cradle that Claire's body made as it moulded itself around my body, grinding my rock hard erection into her denim covered centre and attacked Claire's neck with my lips and teeth. "Christ, Happy, more!" Claire managed to moan out at me in between shallow pants.

"What do you want darling," I spoke darkly, as I continued to grind myself on her.

"Please," The sound of Claire's voice begging, full of need and in the purring voice I loved so much had me crushing my lips to hers once more as my hands ripped furiously at the button of her skin tight jeans, trying in vain to open them.

"Yeo, killa' don't let Chib's catch you doing that to his niece might end bad for you," Tig's voice called, his voice had me pausing my hands and caused me to rip my mouth from Claire's so that I could look up at him. As I watched Tig walk out into the garage from the office I noticed that Koz was following behind him.

"Someone better notify Luanne because it looks like she has two escapee porn stars to worry about." Koz managed to say before he doubled over laughing at his own joke, _blonde haired prick, _my mind cursed at him silently while I glared at the pair of them.

"If you two are going to continue, do we get to stay and watch?" As Tig spoke his eyes flashed darkly and it was only then that I realised that I was still lying flush on top of Claire's body, her legs wrapped high around my waist, her ankles locked behind me making sure that I couldn't move away from her body and where she wanted me.

"Fuck you," I snapped at Tig before I pulled Claire upright as I stood, making sure to keep her close and not allowing her to unwrap her legs from around my waist. As I stood the movement caused a sudden, sharp gasp to come from Claire and as I looked down at her face I saw how she had her eyes clamped shut and her red, kiss swollen lips formed a perfect 'o' shape. From the look of pure bliss that was on Claire's face I knew instantly that she was close and as if I switch had been flipped inside of me head I completely forgot that both Tig and Koz were standing with us and I bit down hard on Claire's pulse point knowing full well that it would push her over the edge. I had learned that the mixture of pain and pleasure always managed to push Claire over the edge and it was something that the two of us shared.

"Jesus..."

"Mother fucker..."

As Claire's legs tightened their hold around me further as her orgasm washed through her my eyes shot open wide. _Shit! _As I looked up from me spot at Claire's throat I saw that both Tig and Koz were still standing where they had been, frozen in their places. I also noticed how they were watching Claire way too closely for my liking and the possessive snarl that rippled its way out of my throat couldn't be helped and the possessive wave that swept through me caused me to bite down hard on Claire's throat, this time higher up where I knew everyone could see it and where I knew Claire wouldn't be able to hide it even if she wanted to. The action caused Claire's head to fall further back, allowing me more room to work with as she slowly came down from her high.

"Hey guys, Clay wants to know what's taking you all so long out here." As Juice appeared in the garage I couldn't help the smirk that formed as Tig clapped his hands over the kid's eyes before he had a chance to see what was going on. "What the fuck Tig! Get your hands off me!"

"Sorry kid, no can do, there's just some things those innocent little eyes of yours aren't allowed to see Juicy boy." As Tig spoke I saw that he still hadn't taken his eyes off Claire, something that was slowly starting to seriously piss me off.

"Baby," I asked gruffly, trying to get Claire's attention, "You need to leave for a second."As I turned Claire's head towards me so that she was actually looking at me I saw her nodding her head weakly at me. "Take Juice with you," I said again as I sat Claire on the ground gently, making sure she could stand without falling over before she walked out of the garage unsteadily, Juice following behind her as silence fell over me, Tig and Koz.

"Can someone please explain to me what just happened?" Koz asked in a rather shocked tone after a few minutes of silence had past between all of us, "Because for a moment there I could have sworn that I just saw you make Claire..."

"I know," I spoke harshly, cutting Koz of quickly before he could finish his sentence. As I spoke I slipped my hands into the front pockets of my jeans trying to re-adjust myself in my now too small jeans.

"Just so you know, I wasn't being serious when I asked could we watch," Tig spoke calmly before he cocked his head to the side as if he was trying to figure some hard puzzle out.

"Yea," Simple answers were all I seem to be capable of giving at the moment as the clarity of what I had just done to Claire in front of my brothers settled over me.

"You're one luck son of a bitch you know that right?" I heard Koz say with a chuckle in his voice as he walked round to the front of the car that I had had Claire pushed up against just moments ago. "Christ, I think I might just give my left nut up to have a girl like Claire wearing my ink bro'." At Koz's words something within me snapped.

"You touch her and I'll cut your hands off before I make your final resting place a shallow grave a mile outside of Charming's border," I watched as Koz's eyes went wide because of my words before he threw his hands up in an attempt to defend himself only then did I turn to glare at Tig. "That goes for you to asshole, touch her and I swear I'll skin you alive before I kill you." The only answer I got from Tig was a tight nod of his head but I knew from experience that that was better than any promise I would ever get out of him.

"We actually had a reason for coming in here to find you two," Koz coughed out suddenly as yet another silence began to settle upon the three of us.

"What?" I snapped at them but I couldn't bring myself to care at the fact that I sounded cruel; my mind was miles away trying to figure out the right way to explain what the fuck just happened to Claire and not get my balls cut off but my mind drew a blank.

"Gemma and Tara went out and got food for all of us, thought we could all use something to eat before all this shit went down." I felt my jaw clench shut instantly at the reminder that soon I'd have to let Claire go and watch as she walked straight into the lion's den.

"I know you don't like it brother but it's been decided. Everything had been set, on _both _sides." Tig's words held a subtle warning that I saw straight through, _don't cut and run off with your girl because then you leave your family to deal with the shit your selfish actions leave behind. _As I thought on Tig's warning I realised I could never do that to the club, to my family no matter how much Claire was starting to mean to me.

"Shouldn't we be going then?" I spoke slowly, "Let's go eat," I spoke with fake enthusiasm before I stepped out of the workshop, Tig and Koz behind me. As I stepped out of the garage I was greeted by the image of three pick nick tables covered with food that were lit up by the lights that were in the yard and all the Old Lady's and girlfriends fussing around them, setting things up so that they sat perfectly on the tables.

"This is the calm before the storm brother," Tig's deep voice sounded from beside me as he drew level with my shoulder.

"I thought you like the excitement that came with the _'storm' _Tigger," I grumbled as I scanned the crowd in front of us looking for Claire.

"I've missed the last two chances that dump bitch of an ex-wife has threw my way to look after my kids and I'm not letting another chance slip through my fingers just because I like the _excitement _that killing people for the club brings me. I want a chance to be a good father, not a great one but at least a good one to those two, so screw excitement for once." _Club, family, self. _That was the order that my life and the lives of my brothers had fell into over the years and not for the first time did the places of family and club switch, blurring slightly. Everyone knew that as twisted as Tig was he loved his two kids and wanted nothing but to be the father they needed and none of us could ever hold that against him.

"Third times a charm," I muttered quietly to myself.

"What about you Hap'?" I heard the undeniable voice of Koz say from the other side of me. As I looked over at him I saw that he already had a beer sitting in his hands, "You ever going to settle down for once in your hectic life after the dust settles on all of this shit? Are you finally going to put ink to skin? In my opinion, you've got one hell of a girl to do it with, doesn't take your shit for one minute. I like her." I couldn't answer Koz's questions, out loud yet at least. I knew that I wanted to put a crow on Claire that wasn't the problem, but was I really ready to settle down?

"What time is it anyway," I forced myself to ask so that I could distract Koz away from the fact that I never answered his questions.

"It's a few minutes before eleven," Tig answered me as he flipped open his pre pay before he snapped it shut and slipped it back into the pocket of his cut. "Shouldn't you be checking to see if that girl of yours is ready or something? We'll have to go in about thirty minutes give or take, or we'll go straight after we've all eaten." Nodding in agreement with Tig's words I started to walk out from the shadows that the three of us had all been standing in and began to make my way over to where I saw Gemma by at table that was all lit up by the yard lights, folding napkins and placing them at different place settings. As I moved further into the light of the lot I saw Gemma freeze as she spotted me making my way over to her. Gemma dropped the napkins she had been folding as I came level with her, it was only then did I notice the sad expression on her face, one I could fully sympathise with.

"Are you looking for Claire?" Gemma asked bluntly, with an answering nod of my head Gemma let out a deep sigh before she continue to talk, "Don't get mad when you see her in your room, I let her in there, she said that she had to get some shit ready for tonight." I had no idea why Gemma was getting so worked up about letting Claire in my room but as I made my way closer to my room I heard the tell tale clicks of gun metal parts sliding and locking into place. When I came level with the door to my dorm room I stopped, routed in my place at what I saw. The door to my room stood wide open and the sight in front of me caused a cold shiver a dread to run the whole way down my spine.

"What are you doing?" Even as I spoke I heard how shaky my own voice was but it couldn't be helped. I had been surrounded by guns and knives for most of my life and I had even seen some of the Old Lady's playing around with a gun from time but I was totally unprepared for what lay in front of me now. Claire sat cross legged on the floor in front of my bed, her back resting against the foot of the bed and in her hands she held a pistol which she was rhythmically checking over and loading. In a semi-circle around her she had laid out an assortment of guns and knives, the cleaning kits for both and ammo for the guns sat in the middle of the semi-circle of weaponry.

"Preparing," Claire said back in a scarily calm voice, never lifting her eyes away room the pistol she was lovingly working on.

"Preparing?" I snapped out at her, "Claire, there's at least fifteen fucking guns at your feet, and half a dozen different blades what the hell do you think you're going into?" I growled but my anger wasn't necessarily directed at her, more at the fact that I was experiencing something that I hadn't felt in a long time.

"It's not that much," Claire spoke with a shrug of her shoulders, again she never looked up at me and I could feel myself losing my patience with her.

"Claire, you've probably got enough fire power that to go through with a robbery!" The fact that Claire didn't seem to be able to see the problem with what she was doing was steadily pissing me off too.

"I've had to work with more before," Claire was deliberately being cold with me and I didn't like being shut out when I was trying to do the right thing for once and actually help someone I cared about out.

"What twisted shit have you got up to that you need this much weaponry on you?" I snarled at her.

"Things that would make even Tig's stomach turn if I told him." Claire's frank answer had my eyes going wide in shock. _What the fuck did her life, her job actually entail her to do? _I thought with a shiver.

"Claire, you can't hide yourself from me. I know you. I know what's going on in that head of yours. Don't hide from me because you're scared of what you're about to do," I finally spoke, it was barely a whisper but I knew Claire had heard me because I watched as her whole body went ridged.

"Scared?" Claire finally choked out, "Scared doesn't even come close to what I'm feelin' Happy. I'm scared that I won't be able to keep Jimmy and his men distracted for long enough to get Kerrie-Anne and Fiona, even though she's a bitch, to safety. I'm scared that one of your guys is gona' get hurt while you're tryin' to drag my arse outa' this when the times comes to pull me out of this shite. I'm scared that someone here is gona' get hurt when all of us are away. But ya' know what's worse? I'm fuckin' _petrified_, scared shitless,that I'm gona' fuck this up so bad that _everyone_ gets hurt! That's what I'm hidin' Happy, the fact that I don't wana' fuck this up so badly that everyone I've come to care 'bot gets hurt!" As Claire finished speaking she lifted her head up, her gaze locking on to mine instantly and at that moment I saw how tears were gathering in the corners of her eyes and that there were track marks down her cheeks were some of them had already slipped free.

"Claire," I spoke slowly, my heart clenching tight as a few more tears trickled down Claire's cheek, "Baby you know that's not going to happen."

"How fuck do ya' know that," Claire laughed but it was void of emotion. "You've known me for what, two day's tops?" The Claire in front of me looked so weak, so small compared to the strong, feisty Claire I had met that first day she arrived at the club house and ripped Clay a new one in front of all the guys.

"I know a lot more than you think I do," I said with a gentle chuckle as I kneeled down in front of her, cupping her face in my hands and wiping away a few errant tears that ran down her cheeks. "It's my job remember, to see what others can't and act on it." As Claire gave a small nod I continued, "I know you think you're going to fuck this up but trust me I know you can do this. I know you wouldn't let anything come between you and protecting your family, protecting this club."

"Ya' got more faith in me than I do," Claire spoke with a small smile, "Promise me something," She said suddenly, "Promise me that you'll look after yourself, and Chib's, promise me you won't get hurt."

"I've got as much faith in you that you deserve," I said with a chuckle, "And as for me and your uncle, were big boys, sometimes we like to get into a good fight." My words had managed to pull a small chuckle from Claire and I had never felt such relief as I did at the sound of it.

"Bikers and their fights, what am I gona' do with you," She spoke with a small but genuine smile.

"You'll figure something out after all you're going to be dealing with it for a long time to come, especially when you're officially mine," As I finished speaking I wrapped my arms tight around Claire, and as we sat in our tight embrace we fell into a comfortable silence until a very feminine cough interrupted us.

"Are you two planning on joining us all for dinner any time soon?" I turned in time to see Gemma ask, a secret smile pulling at the corner of her lips.

"Yea, we'll be there in two seconds," Claire answered quickly as she herself away from me a little so she could rub her hands over her face, wiping away the evidence of her tears. When I was sure Gemma was long gone and wasn't listening in I turned back round to speak to Claire.

"Pack up your shit, as much as you like, then come eat with me." I ordered, knowing full well for once she was going to do exactly as I said.

I only took us a couple of minutes to place all of Claire weapons into her duffel and for her to pull on her jacket but we left my dorm room, I paused for a second, looking back into my room. This was the beginning of something completely new to me and after I placed a simple kiss to Claire's forehead we made our way out to eat a last supper with our family before all hell broke loose upon us.

**So there's another chapter done ^^ I hope you enjoyed it, sorry it there was any errors lol now all that's left is to review and let me know what you're thinking :) thanks xo**


	10. Chapter 10

**So here's the next chapter, sorry it took me so long to upload computer crashed but it's fixed now (**_**thanks god **_**;) lol) big thank you to all those who reviewed the last chapter :D I appreciate your feedback, and this will probz be the last update until the New Year so I hope you enjoy it xo **

Chapter 10

Dinner was a quiet and awkward event. After everyone had gathered around the three pick nick tables that had been covered with food by the women no one seemed to be in any mood to be social. Even though everyone seemed to be eating, to me it seemed as if everyone was just going through the motions rather than savouring anything they were eating. As I ate I noticed how that every so often one of my brothers, Gemma or even on one occasion Tara would quickly glance over at Claire as she ate with a look of worry, while the sympathy swirled in their eyes was also obvious.

"I promise ya' the next person to stare at me is gona' get shot," Claire spoke rather coldly all of a sudden, even surprising me as I hadn't realised she had noticed the stares she was getting. As Claire answered she never looked up from the plate of food that was sitting in front of her, instead she pushed the food around her plate with her fork. At Claire's words I watched with a smirk as Chib's and Tig started to choke on the food they had just swallowed, _serves then right for staring at her, _I thought possessively.

"Shit," Tig muttered as he tried to take a drink from his beer in order to try and break up his coughing fit, "You have eyes on the top of your head or something kid? Next time warn a guy!"

"Nope," Claire answered plainly before she finally stopped playing with her food and threw down her knife and fork and looked up at the entire table. "I just hate the feeling of everyone's eyes burning into my head, makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end." Claire spoke directly at Tig but everyone knew that they were included in her outburst and that it was only because she had caught Tig that she was taking out her anger on him. I watched as Claire gave a slight shrug of her shoulders at the questioning look Tig threw her after she finished speaking.

"Yeo! We need to start moving out," Koz yelled out causing all of us to look up at him as he came running out through the doors of the club house.

"Why? What happened?" Claire asked standing instantly from her seat and waiting for Koz to close the gap between them and start talking to her.

"Just got a call from Fish, he's sitting up there at the border line, he's being look out." Koz paused in his explanation to talk a deep breath, _fucker needs to stop chain smoking if he can't even run ten metres, _I mentally growled to myself slowly losing my temper_._ "Jimmy and his boys just showed up, they've parked up their cars and they don't look like they'll be moving anytime soon." Even though Claire and Koz stood a few metres away from the rest of us at the tables we were all still able to hear them clearly as they spoke.

"Fuck! Fuck! He ain't meant to be there for another half an hour! Shite!" At Claire's words, I flicked my gaze up to lock it with Clay's and with a tight nod from me he began to talk.

"We leave in five minutes," Everyone turned to look at Clay as he spoke, all the women were wearing the same worried look on their faces while my brothers all wore solid masks that hid any chance of letting me see what they were feeling. _Bet they're not feeling as shitty as you are, _my mind said starkly and I had to agree. My stomach felt like a lead weight was sitting in it, my throat felt like sand paper and my chest seemed to be tightening more and more with every passing second. "All of you grab your shit and get ready to ride out." At Clay's order every brother sitting around the tables stood immediately, some kissing their women as they stood to leave while some simply gave their woman a nod as they went to gather their stuff.

"Happy," At the sound of my name I turned round and as I looked over I saw that it had been Tig who was speaking to me. "Claire's in the clubhouse, go talk to her." Tig was already walking towards his bike when his words sank in. Tig showing care towards someone rarely happened except for his girls so the fact that he had noticed Claire caused dread to seep through me. I gave a quick nod in his direction as a thank you for the heads up before looking around the yard as I made my way towards the club house doors. Stepping into the club house I was greeted by the sight of Claire sitting alone on one of the stools in front of her, on the bar, two shot glasses were sitting, a bottle of Jack sat behind the two shot glasses.

"Is there a reason why you're setting up shots darling?" I asked gently, trying in vain to swallow the lump that had abruptly formed in my throat.

"Tradition," Even though Claire's words were blunt she spoke with a slight chuckle, but even to me it was hollow. Claire turned her stool slowly so she was looking at me before she spoke again, "Come over here, I'm gona' let ya' in on a secret. It's one of the only traditions my ma' actually approved of in this shitty MC life." I walked slowly over to the bar, feeling as though I was walking into the unknown and I'll be honest it scared me, I never did like being unprepared for things. Claire would be letting me into the past she had kept well under lock and keep, a past that only Chib's seemed to know about and I knew it was a big thing, for both of us that Claire was letting me in.

"You don't have to talk about your mother if you don't want to." My voice was gruff when I spoke but it couldn't be helped. I knew how hard it was to talk about mothers, epically dead ones, _well you're definitely living proof of that one aren't you, _my mind mused harshly.

"Nah," Claire said with a sigh as she shook her head at me, her accent deepening as her emotions became more and more hectic. From my new spot standing beside her it was obvious she was trying to hide her emotions from me, _she isn't over her mini break down from earlier, _I thought sadly. "Might as well start telling ya' 'bot myself seein' as you're gona' be stuck with me if we make it through this shite," At the negative tone in Claire's voice something within me snapped.

"You need to stop talking like that! And the sooner you do the better!" The growl in my voice was something I couldn't control but at the confused and saddened look that spread over Claire's face I softened my tone slightly, trying to control my rage as I continued, "Nothing is going to happen to you! I won't let it! I can't have anything happen to you Claire, do you understand that?"

"You can't promise me anythin' Hap' but thanks for tryin' lov'," She paused briefly but not long enough for me to argue back at her as she continued quickly, standing from her stool and pulling me closer to the bar in the same moment. "Back home us Northern Ireland lot lov' our whiskey," And as Claire spoke I noticed how a sweet smile appeared on her lips and the smile tugged at my heart. "My ma' was no different," Claire suddenly started chuckling softly, turning to me she explained her sudden chuckling outburst, "When I was little, my ma' used to put whiskey in my bottle to put me to sleep, always said I was born a night creature. When I got older and started learnin' 'bot SAMCRO and the club my ma', she taught me that whiskey was a drink not to be abused and that it could even turn the best of men cruel." Claire let out a deep sigh that seemed to rock through her whole body, looking away from me she lifted the bottle of Jack from the bar and started to fill both of the shot glasses in front of her. I was fighting against the instincts that boiled within me to wrap my arms around Claire and hold her tight to me, protect her from everything around her as she lifted the Jack bottle with shaking hands but I knew at that moment it wouldn't help the situation or Claire in anyway so I restrained myself, even though it wasn't easy for me to fight against the instincts that I lived by. "I couldn't find any Bushmills but Jack'll do," Claire said as she flashed me a small smile before she continued, "My ma' said that the taking of a life was one of the worst things a human being could ever do, yet that if it was for the protection of those ya' loved then god should forgive ya'." She paused again as she handed me one of the shot glasses now filled to the brim with the amber coloured liquid before she lifted her own. "There's a good chance I'm gona' be killing a good few people in the next couple of days, same for you I'm guessin' but the tradition my ma' taught me was always salute your dead and those ya' kill by your own hands with a shot of whiskey. She always said the burn was there to remind you that the loss of a life is never easy whether it be natural or at otherwise." Tears were streaming freely down Claire's face as she spoke and her voice with raspy and even though I was never one to show emotion, I could feel the tell tale signs of tears starting to prick their way to the surface of my own eyes. "To dead, both our own and those we choose to get rid off." With Claire's simple words said she threw back her own shot of whiskey and I followed her actions implicitly.

"So what do we do now," After a short silence had passed between us I spoke as I watched as I rolled the shot glass in my palm, not trusting myself to look up at Claire.

"We do what we gota' do and we don't think too much 'bot it." Claire's words might have been harsh and even though I couldn't find a fault with them I didn't think I would ever be able to follow them because contrary to what everyone, both within the club and out of it believed, I really did have a conscience.

"When we do this I'm not going to be able to stop thinking about you whether it's the right thing for me to do or not, if I don't know whether you're safe or not, and just so you know you aren't safe until you're with me, I'll always be worrying about you." As I spoke I lifted my head so I could look straight into Claire's eyes so she could see the honesty behind my words. Honesty had never been my best characteristic, it never really helped in my club business so I never saw I need to brush up on it but the longer I was with Claire the more it seemed right to be completely honest with her. _An Old Lady can make or break a club,_ my mind pointed out, _that's because they're a brother's weakness, the one person they can truly be themselves with, and to tell the truth to and not get judged because of it and their actions._

"You make it sound like I some kinda' bad omen," Claire spoke with a chuckle though I saw that it never reached her eyes, "I won't be able to forget 'bot ya' Hap' but that don't mean I'm gona' be this weak little girl. I gota' be a cold hearted bitch if I'm gona' pull this off. I have a job to do and I gota' do it right and if that means I need to pretend you don't exist for a while then so be it, I'm sorry lov' but that's the truth." I could see the pain in Claire's eyes as she spoke and I felt it as if it was my own.

"As long as you promise to remember I exist once this is over and you swear you'll be mine, I don't really give a shit about the stuff in the middle as long as you don't get hurt."This time the smile that spread over Claire's features was one that did reach her eyes and it warmed me to see it.

"Look at my big bad biker goin' all soft on me," Claire teased me and it was my turn to smile at her words, they might have been true, but she was the only one ever going to see this side of me so I could live with being less guarded around her.

"Tell anyone else and I'll have to kill you," I spoke with my best killa' face in place but the only response I got from Claire was a knowing smirk and I knew she saw straight through my facade.

"Whateva' ya' say killa'," Claire threw a wink at me as she pushed herself away from the bar and started towards the door of the club house. I watched over my shoulder as she paused on her way to the door to call to me, "Hap'," Claire's voice held an air of uncertainty as she turned slowly so that she was facing me, "If this all goes bad I just wana' say thanks, you didn't need to handle all my shite but ya' did anyway, so thanks." I never got to reply to Claire's words of gratitude as she was already walking out the doors of the club house before I even had a chance, hanging my head low I rested my weight against the bar on my forearms. My mind was swirling as it tried to process everything that had just happened, from Claire finally letting me in, even if it was only a little, to Claire's unexpected thank you. _You could never just fall for a simple chick could you, _my mind challenged. My answer was a resounding, _fuck no. _I liked a girl with a bit of bite to her, and Claire, well she had enough bite to drown in. Girl knew how the SAMCRO life was, had killed enough people for the club that I was seriously going to offer to tattoo a couple of smiley faces onto that perfect skin of hers yet she was still human enough to bring out the side of me that I thought I had a lost long ago.

"Yeo Hap' Clay says you need to get your ass out here now, direct quote, you're about to get the order to ride." The prospects voice brought me back to reality harshly, _it was time_. Letting out a short curse I shoved myself of off the bar and headed out into the lot, where I was greeted by the site of all my brothers that were present sitting waiting on their bikes, a black SUV sitting in the middle of them all. I watched as Claire threw her duffel into the boot of the SUV, closing it with a loud thud and how Gemma was walking across the lot, keys in hand only to watch as Gemma ended up sitting in the driver's seat of the SUV while Claire ended up in the sitting in the passenger seat.

"What the fuck is Gemma doing?" I growled at Clay as I stormed over to where he, Tig and Koz where standing.

"What?" Clay asked with a confused expression on his face.

"She's sitting in the driver's seat of the fucking SUV while Claire's in the passenger seat! What the fuck is going on?" I was tired of bullshit I wanted a clear answer for once.

"What does it look like asswhole, she's driving." Clay snapped back at me but I couldn't care to shits if he was pissed, even though some part of my mind tried to point out that Clay was probably freaking out as much as I was inside.

"I thought we didn't bring Old Lady's with us," I barked back at him, not caring how disrespectful I sounded.

"You're really going to question me on Old Lady's when that we shit of yours is the reason we're in this mess?" I snapped, Clay might be stressed but he owed Claire.

"You don't have the right to speak about Claire like that! Not after the way she's saved your ass! She deserves a hell of a lot more respect than that!" With that I lunged at him, the only reason he didn't end up being pummelled on the ground was because at the exact moment I went for him, two arms suddenly locked themselves tight around my waist.

"Happy, brother, calm the fuck down!" Chib's Scottish accent spoke gruffly at me as I continued to struggle in his hold, trying in vain to reach Clay. "And Clay, really, ya' know he's gota' point if Claire hears ya' talking 'bot her like that she'd rip ya' a new one before pointin' a few people ya' never wana' meet in your direction." I felt smug satisfaction wash threw me as Clay's face paled slightly and didn't bother hiding the smirk I knew was growing on my face. Shaking Chib's off me I turned to speak to Clay.

"Be grateful that she's helping us out, she could have easily run and left this behind her." I paused to glare hard at Clay, making sure he was listening, "She chose to stay and help this club! That deserves respect, respect at the moment you aren't showing enough of!"

"So this is what happens when a killa' finally finds an Old Lady," Clay snorted out, still missing the point and causing a growl to fall from between my clenched teeth, but it was Tig that spoke up against Clay.

"No that's what happens when you don't show the right amount of respect to someone this _whole _club it grateful to." Tig words were like a hard pill for Clay to swallow and I relished the look of pain Clay wore as he realised he'd lost. Clay never spoke just simply strode over to his bike and saddled up.

"Let's ride!" Clay ordered and the sound of bikes starting up filled the lot, followed quickly by the rumble of the SUV starting.

The ride to the Charming border would only take twenty minutes seeing as we only had to travel for one side of town to the other but the whole journey felt like an eternity to me. I felt numb the whole ride there, even though I should have been able to feel every dip in the road, every vibration of my bike, I couldn't. All I was focused on was that as soon as we arrived at the border I would have to let Claire go. I'll be the first to admit that I'm a possessive fucker but the thought of letting Claire go voluntarily to those assholes was making me feeling like I was about to be physically sick. As I glanced down and looked into the mirror of my bike I saw that the SUV was about five metres behind me, but I wasn't allowed the relief of knowing the Claire was even actually in there as I couldn't see through the blacked out windows. We were now on the last hundred metres of road that lead to the Charming border and I could just about make out the solid shadows of the Irish through the darkness. With one handle signal from Clay our convoy slowly came to a stop in front of where the Irish pricks had set themselves up. We had blocked up most of the road and I knew that this would have to be quick as someone was bound to notice us and call the cops.

"Glad ya' boys finally showed up," Jimmy said with an amused smile, I could feel the sneer that sat on my face at his words grow as he continued to speak, "I was worried ya' all weren't gona' show," His Irish accent called out across the road to us.

"You're an actual retard if ya' think we weren't gona' show." Claire's voice called back as the sound of the SUV door opening sounded throughout the silence.

"Now, now Claire, is all that name callin' really necessary," I heard the snort that Claire let out at Jimmy's words and couldn't help the small smile that it caused to pull at my lips for a few seconds before I quickly hid it.

"You're a bastard at least wear your title with a little bit a self respect," _That's my girl, _I thought proudly, but at the sound of the boot of the SUV opening and closing dread started to fill me. I felt like at that moment my life was on the brink of destruction and that my one hope of survival was walking into the obis, one that it wouldn't return from.

"Claire leaves with you and you leave Charming for good," Clay spoke as he rose off his bike, me, Tig and Koz doing the same thing.

"I promise ya' when Claire is safely with me, me and my men we'll leave your hick town," Jimmy spoke snidely.

"You're promises are worth shite Jimmy," Claire spoke as she came to stand between me and Clay, "Swear on somethin' that's actually worth shite to ya'." Claire's words made sense and they caused Jimmy to pause, his cocky expression faltering slightly.

"Aye," Chib's deep voice grumbled from where he sat on his bike, "Like the one thing ya' can't live without if ya' lost it." Chib's words confused me but from the small chuckle that came from Claire I knew that whatever Chib's was talking about must be of great importance to Jimmy.

"Aw Jimmy ya' ain't scared are ya'?" Claire's voice was sarcastic and cold and as I a looked at her quickly I saw the mask she had put up should how cold she could be.

"Fine," Jimmy rushed out as if it pained him to speak, "I swear to ya'." _Looks like the rest of us are going to be left out of the Irish secret, _my mind spoke accusingly.

"It's settled then you leave as soon as you get Claire?" I heard Clay speak but to be honest I wasn't paying him that much attention. The blood was hammering in my ears and my chest felt so tight that I feared that my heart would be crushed. The time had come.

"Aye," Jimmy's cocky voice was back in place again as he spoke, "Claire I'm waitin'." At Jimmy's words I turned to watch as Claire bent over to lift her duffel from off the ground. With a small nod at Clay she hefted her duffel high up on her shoulder and straightened herself as she made to walk across the gap between us and them. I felt my control over everything I had come to care about slipping and I pulled Claire to me not caring who saw my moment of true weakness. Crushing my lips to her I forced my tongue into her mouth, trying to memorise how she tasted as I pulled Claire hard to my body, trying to mould her body into mine, pulling myself away from Claire was the most painful thing I had ever done and as I looked into her eyes I finally spoke.

"Remember you're _mine_, don't let them break you. You are so much stronger than them Claire. Promise me you'll come back to me, I don't think I can be the same person I am at the moment if you don't." It was the closest thing I could ever give Claire to a declaration of love and as a single tear ran down the apple of her cheek she spoke.

"I promise ya' lov', I'll be back," And with that she ripped herself from my arms and crossed the distance to where Jimmy stood smirking at me. I stood there until the tail lights of the Irish trucks started to become faint and it was only the sound of Chib's deep accent that managed to pull me out of my darkening thoughts.

"We have a job to do brother, get your head in the game or you'll lose her for good." The thought of what life without Claire was enough to have be saddling my bike and preparing for whatever hell I had to go through to get my woman back.

**So seeing as your all in the giving holiday spirit, review and let me know what you thought :) sorry if you find any errors and other than that have a great Christmas ^^ thanks for reading xo**


	11. Chapter 11

**Happy New Year Everyone :)**

**Here's the next chapter, you can think of it as wee New Year's present from me for all me dedicated readers lol hope you enjoy ^^ sorry it took so long to update xo**

Chapter 11

In this life, the MC life, there were certain things I had grown to live with. For example, three night with no sleep, piece of cake. Living off shitty road side coffee that tasted like piss, I could deal. Koz, Chib's and Tig's constant bitching and moaning on a run, even though it caused me to have a nagging headache, I could survive. There was one thing that I couldn't deal with, couldn't _grow _to live with even if I tried,and that happened to be the fact that I hated not being able to see what the fuck was happening when I was on a job, and the fact that the person I was meant to be protecting hadn't been seen in three days was starting to seriously piss me off. The small patient part of me was quickly deteriorating and in its wake it was revealing the very pissed off and very possessive side of me, the side most people both in the MC world and the outside word tried to avoid at all costs.

"They're starting to move out again," I heard Tig's gruff voice speak quietly and he pointed towards the back SUV's that were lined up outside of the run down motel that was across the road from our hiding spot.

"This is fucking ridiculous it's two in the morning," I growled out, "Why the fuck do they keep moving like this. It doesn't make any sense! There's not even a bloody port anywhere near here!"

"Just stick with it," Chib's grumbled from beside me, _yea like you aren't as pissed as I am, _I thought angrily. "We do this like we've done in every other place they've stopped at." Chib's ordered at us, sometime after the first stop the Irish had decided to make Chib's had taken it on himself to become the self appointed leader of are little fucked up group. "Koz wait till you're sure they've all left then go into the motel and see if Claire left anythin' for us, _check everythin'_." As Chib's finished stressing the last part of his order to Koz, I watched as the first of the SUV's started pulling out of the parking lot in front of the motel, the rest following in quick succession.

"Are we following then or are we going to just sit here and listen to your dictator impression." I snapped harshly at Chib's as I watched the last of the SUV's leaving the lot, receiving a glare from Chib's while Tig and Koz snorted. A sharp nod from Chib's was our signal to start moving. The set up was simple, while the three of us tailed after the Irish, Koz would run into wherever the fuck the Irish had stopped at last, check the place out and see if Claire had left us a message, so far though, we hadn't heard a single thing from Claire, no message, no phone call, just complete bullshit.

"Why the fuck does this lot need another coffee break? We've been on the road for all of, what, an hour!" Tig was just as pissed as I was, though he was pissed that the Irish had come crashing into our territory and stolen from us, and seeing as he saw Claire as a MC god he wanted to kill everything that had stolen his ideal. We sat about hundred feet up the road from where the Irish had pulled up to yet another shitty road side cafe, _who would want to voluntarily stop and drink the rat piss they severed as coffee, _I mentally questioned.

"They're waitin' for somethin'," Chib's spoke as if he had heard what I had been thinking. As he spoke I notice that he cocked his head as if he was trying to focus on something to far out of his range of sight. "Ya' still wana' see Claire?" He asked suddenly and I jumped at the chance, snatching the binoculars of Tig before I could get control of my body. Focusing the sights of the binoculars on the parking lot I was able to make out Claire, from what I could see she looked ok, pissed off as she paced along the length of the SUV I guessed she was being kept inside while she had a phone pressed tight against the side of her head, talking furiously into it until it was ripped from her hand for some beef cake of a man. I could make out the glare she threw at the man who took the phone off her clearly through the binoculars and I felt relief flood through me seeing that the fire Claire was famous for was still present. _You're such a whipped pussy, _my mind snapped at me and for once I couldn't find the strength to fight it.

"Who the hell was she on the phone to? She hasn't called any of us!" The fact that this was the first time I had seen Claire brought both relief and worry to me, and the fact that she had a way to contact us and hadn't, caused anger to flare in me.

"Either she's checkin' up on Kerri-Anne and Fiona or she's plannin' somethin' else," Chib's stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. _Shit, _I thought slowly, _I'm losing me fucking edge over her, shit, god I have to pull my ass out of me head._

"Koz is back," Tig spoke as he nodded his head in the direction I assumed Koz was coming from. "Looks like the the kid actually found something this time." Tig's words had me spinning in the direction I had caught him looking in earlier, I had to check myself before I acted, knowing if Tig caught me acting like some whipped shithead I wouldn't here the end of it. As I watched Koz jog up to where we were all sitting I saw that he held what looked like was a small cardboard box between his hands.

"Hey guys," He said breathlessly as he got closer, "I miss anything?" _Shit head, _I muttered to myself as he spoke.

"Finally got a glimpse at Claire," Tig answered while I stayed silent, glaring at the box in my brothers hands trying to figure out what the hell could be in it.

"Damn and I missed her sweet ass," Either Koz was being intentionally dense or trying to piss me off further but before I could act Koz began speaking again. "Bet your happy, pun so fucking meant, bro'," I ignored Koz's childish words and simply looked from him to the box in his hands and back to him to show what I really was interested in, glaring at him the whole time. He caught on quick, _yay, _the sarcastic part of me thought.

"Oh yea, I got something from reception at that motel, it's addressed to Chib's though not you Happy." Koz's words had me glaring harder at him, confusion and hurt vying for top place in the emotional rank system that was forming in my head, something I really wasn't familiar with and sure as hell didn't like the felling of.

"Giv' us it here then," Chib's grumbled as he moved over to where Koz was standing, "Tig ya' take over watchin' in my place and Koz ya' go with him, me and Happy can deal with this." Translated that meant, _fuck of this is family business and its bad enough I have to deal with Happy without you two hanging around, _have to give it to the Scottish for their subtlety I thought quietly asTig and Koz followed Chib's words without question and made their way through the undergrowth, leaving me and Chib's to stand alone beside the bikes.

"You going to open it then," I snapped after awhile of just me and Chib's glaring at each other.

"Can ya' really deal with all this?" Chib's questioned, " 'Cause if ya' can't, ya' gota' tell me now 'cause there might be somethin' that ya' really ain't gona' like in this." Chib's spoke calmly as he shook the box in his hands at me.

"Open the fucking box now or I'm going to open you." My words were harsh but I honestly didn't give a shit, the lack of faith Chib's words had in me cut deep and if you added that to the panic his words had created in me I was in no mood to be tested by him or anyone else.

"You'll do fine brother," He spoke with a smirk at hearing my words, _guessed you passed the test asshole, _my mind said bluntly. I watched as Chib's set down the box at his feet while he pulled out a switch blade from his boot. Kneeling down beside the box as Chib's did the same I waited impatiently as he sliced through the tape that sealed the box closed. As Chib's pulled the box opened I saw that a piece of folded paper and cell phone lay within it.

"What the hell is that all about?" I snapped at Chib's as he lifted the contents of the box out and stood to his full height, me following quickly after him.

"Use your fuckin' eyes, what the hell do ya' think it is." Chib's snapped back at me, "Ya' really think ya' big bad biker snarls gona' scare me? I'm just as worried 'bot Claire as you are, so don't think ya' can fuckin' order me 'bot! Ya' got that?" I glared hard at Chib's. It was easy to see the family resemblance between Claire and Chib's when they got angry like the way Chib's was at the moment, but even though I would never admit it, I knew he was right. Bowing my head slightly I waited as Chib's calmed down before I spoke.

"Look..." I started before he cut me off.

"I know, but ya' still ain't got any right to talk to me like that, she's family, blood and your just the boy whole took a fancy to her and until I see a crow on that girl you lose your claim to be the one that decides what happens to her." By the end of Chib's speech I was in shock, the only time I'd ever seen Chib's like this was when Jimmy threatened him with Fiona and Kerri-Anne's safety but now seeing him like this with Claire I remembered my place. I watched as Chib's read through the folded piece of paper that had been in the box before he handed he another piece of folded paper that had my name scribbled across the front of it.

"Seems she remembered that you'd get pissed at me when I opened the box, sent ya' your own little letter." It was the only explanation he gave me before he turned back to the letter in his hands. I opened my own piece of paper and read.

**Happy,**

**Before we get any further, don't freak out at Chib's he's doing what I told him to do, and for what it's worth he's doing the right thing. Remember our conversation in the club house before I left? The one where I said if it was necessary I'd be a cold hearted bitch, well I've kind of been living through that cold hearted bitch stage. With all the shit Jimmy's trying to pull off it's been necessary and you've probably realised that seeing as you haven't seen me since we left Charming.**

**Please follow the instructions I've given to Chib's and look after Charlie. You'll need Charlie's help if you're going to get to The Strip and if you're going to get rid of Jimmy for good.**

**I warning you now, it's probably safer if you keep Charlie and Tig as far away as possible from each other. You need to keep both of them alive and I swear they'll probably kill each other if you left them alone for too long.**

**I'm sorry I haven't been able to get in contact with any of you; Jimmy's little shit of a bodyguard took all my crap off me including my duffel. All I actually got left with was the clothes on my back but I can last, can even deal with the babysitter that has to come with me every time I need to use the fucking bathroom but hey, when you've got a sick fucker like Jimmy wanting to kill you where you stand you figure it's best not to ask too many questions. **

**If everything goes according to the plan me and Charlie have set up I'll be seeing you lot in about twenty-four hours give or take, Charlie will explain everything better than I can so if you can wait a little longer you can get your answers love, I can promise you that.**

**Speaking of promise's mine still stands and I hope this letter proves it.**

**Alex.**

I read the letter through twice before I finally looked up at Chib's, seeing him looking at me patiently, waiting for me to speak.

"What do we have to do," My blunt words seemed to give Chib's all the encouragement he needed and he began speaking quickly.

"Koz, Tig, get ya' arses over here," There was a paused as Tig and Koz sauntered there way over to us.

"What was in the box," Koz asked, curiosity clear in his features, while Tig looked bored.

"The next stage in this plan is 'bot to start," Chib's explained. "We gota' ring this _Charlie _person and from there on were working are way to gettin' Claire back and gettin' rid of Jimmy."

"Claire gave us a phone just for that? Why not just give us a slip of paper with the number on it and instructions?" At Tig's questions Chib's gaze flicked up and met mine briefly.

"There was something else but that ain't the point, point is we need to get moving as soon as we've called 'cause according to Claire's letter we've got less than twenty-four hours before all this shit hits the fan." Chib's covering for me showed that he'd finally found the proof that he needed to trust in me. After a while we all decided that when we were ready to ride we would call Charlie so we could act quicker if necessary, packing up our gear didn't take long and before long we were all saddled up on our bikes. "Ready?" Chib's asked, and as he received nods from all of us he started dialling the only number programmed into the phone, putting it on loud speaker as it began to ring out.

"Hello," A distinctly feminine voice answered although it seemed rather groggy.

"Can we speak to Charlie?" Chib's asked rather politely for once.

"Speaking, now who the fuck are you? And why the hell are you ringing me at, Jesus it's three in the morning!" I couldn't help but snort at the woman's reply seeing the scowl it caused Chib's features to turn into.

"You're Charlie?" Chib's questioned slightly sceptically.

"It's short for Charlotte asshole even though it happens to be none of your business. You still haven't answered my question." Charlie's voice seemed to be more awake now as she continued to argue with Chib's, _now I see why I'm not allowed to let her and Tig get to close, _I thought, _they'd rip each other to pieces_.

"I'm Chib's," There was a pause after Chib's answered before curses rang clear through the speaker causing a confused expression to fall over Chib's features, his scowl vanishing.

"Shit, you're Chib's? Claire's gona' kill me when she hears I tried to bitch you out for waking me after she warned me this shit was about to go down." There was another pause and the sound of sheets being thrown back could be heard through the line. "Where are you at the moment?"

"A road side cafe," Chib's answered with a shrug even though Charlie couldn't see it.

"No shit Sherlock, the name of the road side cafe if that's not too much trouble," Charlie huffed back, I could hear more reselling sounds coming down the line and I guessed the Charlie must been getting dressed.

"It doesn't have a name," Tig answered for Chib's when he sent us a questioning look.

"Who are you?" Charlie questioned as she heard the new voice.

"Tig," _Short and sweet, Tig's only style, _I thought with a silent snort.

"Well Tig, seeing as you seemed to be the brains here, is there a green, white and orange flag over the middle window of the cafe?" Even though the first part of Charlie's question was sarcastic by the end she had become serious again.

"Yea, how'd you know that?" Tig asked as a glared forming on his brow.

"You're at the Tricolour. Those bastards actually took her to that hole?" I noticed that there was a sharp edge to her words as she spoke.

"Isn't Claire Irish? Why would she care if she was taken to an Irish cafe?" At Koz's question two things happened, first Chib's shot him a '_are you being serious' _glare and secondly a sarcastic laugh sounded out through the speaker of the phone.

"You better have a pretty face boy because your brain ain't gona' be what gets you through this world," As Charlie spoke I noticed there was the remnants of and Irish accent coming through, something I'd have to look into. Charlie's quick witted reply had Tig all but pissing himself with laugher at her accurate image of Koz without ever meeting the dick. "And just so you know sweetie, Claire's _Northern Irish, _not Irish, there's a difference, I'll be with you in about ten minutes don't move from where you are even if the Irish convey moves out." With those final words the line went dead, leaving the four of us to sit there acting stupid.

"What the hell just happened?" Tig finally asked as he stopped chuckling, _asshole was more like a kid than anyone else I'd ever met, twisted beyond belief, but so fucking childish._

"Some girl named Charlie just put us all in are places and hands our arses to us down a fuckin' phone." Chib's spoke slowly as if he didn't fully understand what had happened either.

"Are we meant to work with her?" Koz asked with slight glint forming in his eyes as he spoke, _he did all ways like them feisty, _I thought with a mental shrug.

"Yea, and don't be gettin' any ideas, ya' don't go near her, we're workin'." Chib's growled at Koz when he saw the look that Koz was wearing, the chuckle that I let out couldn't be helped as Koz's face fell into a full on pout.

"How we meant to know what this chicks going to look like anyway?" I asked trying to distract Chib's and Koz from their petty argument.

"You don't need to know what I look like hunny because I already know what all of you look like." A feminine voice sounded behind me, turning I spotted the woman who had spoken. She stood about ten paces from where I sat and as I turned to look at her I heard the metal click of the safety catch being taken of a glock.

"Who the fuck are you?" A dark voice growled out from behind me, _shoot first, ask questions second, had to be Tig, _Ithought as I let my gaze flick over the woman standing in front of me. She was about five foot six, long brown hair, eyes covered with a pair of tan coloured sunglasses, nice hour glass figure, good set of legs, _not my type; _I thought with a chuckle, _so whipped, _my mind countered_._

"Charlie sweetie, so you can stop barking at me. I'd also appreciate it if you pointed that gun somewhere else, I like my heart beating." The dark look I saw fall over Tig's face as I turned back round on my back told me that Claire had been right. _Keep Charlie and Tig as far away as possible from each other_.

"So what's the plan then beautiful?" Koz spoke as he leant forward on his bike, his eyes trailing up and down Charlie's body.

"I don't do blondes kid so you can forget about it." She glared at Koz for a few second until she turned to look at Chib's, "We need to start moving to the Strip, it's about a two hour journey up the road and we need to stop of somewhere first?" Charlie seemed to have suddenly went into serious mode, _bitch has wild mood swing, _I mused, _mind you, you thought most women were like that until Claire bitched you out, _my mind sounded.

"Mind tellin' us what that plan of yours is lass," Chib's drawled out.

"Not a problem suga'," Charlie spoke as she flashed a pretty grin in Chib's direction; I snorted as I heard a faint growl come from Tig. "About an hour up the road we'll pace through a small town, lots a pretty wee houses, we're gona' stop at one of them, belongs to Claire actually, round up some weapons, ammo and shit and then make are way to the strip and go from there." _Since when did Claire own a house? And since when did Claire stock pile weapons in said house? _As questions started to flood my head I realised that Claire had a past far more expansive than I previously thought. "You ok with that or am I gona' have to figure out a new plan that Claire will just have to figure out as she goes along, which will probably result in Claire getting herself shot," There was a short pause before Charlie spoke quietly, "Again."

"Your plans fine," I answered quickly not letting Chib's get a chance to speak. Claire was still healing from the first bullet wound she'd got since coming to save our asses; I sure as hell wasn't letting her get another one when I was the one meant to be making sure she stayed safe. I liked my balls attached and I knew that they wouldn't stay that way for long if Claire came home with another injury.

"Let's go then," Charlie said as she started to make her way over to where a bike was standing. _Shit, I missed that, _I growled at myself, _getting slow old man, _my mind teased me. It took us just over an hour to reach the house Charlie had described to us; one thing she missed out was that the house was a very suburban living house. It was one of those houses that you could imagine the children running around in the summer while in the winter they'd be building snowmen in the winter. Not the image I wanted in my head at the moment if I was being honest with myself.

"These guns should be enough," Charlie said as she lifted to duffels onto what I guessed was meant to be the dining room table, "We'll need to assemble them but that should be fine, right?"

"Yea lov' they're grand," Chib's spoke, reassuring Charlie, "So how long has Claire had this house?"

"Couple of years, had it ever since I moved over here actually. This is the first place I came to after she got me out," Charlie's answer might have been vague when it came to her past but when it came to Claire's it revealed more than enough.

"Claire's been here for two years?" Charlie let out a small laugh before she answered.

"No, she had people buy it for her using money she'd saved; sure she was still in prison." After Charlie had finished speaking Chib's excused himself with a tight nod of his head.

"Why you need to get out of Ireland then?" I heard Tig asking.

"You want the long answer or the short one?" Charlie's answered had a small chuckle coming from Tig before she replied, "I was working a job it went wrong, Claire saved my ass from the inside of her prison cell, and I don't know how she managed it in solitary mind you."

"Why the hell was she in solitary?" I heard myself asking.

"You don't know, I thought all of her SAMCRO connections knew, aren't you lot all like family?" Confusion washed through me at her words, _Clay had this all hidden? _Looking over at Tig I saw that he had his head was down and I could see that all the colour from his face had drained away, it was at that point I heard the sound of Chib's Scottish accent swearing up a storm.

"I think I'll go check on him," I spoke gruffly before leaving Charlie and Tig to assemble the AK's quickly; I just had to get out of the room. I followed Chib's voice until I ended up leaning against the frame of the back door, watching as Chib's growled down the phone until he suddenly snapped it shut, sighing deeply as he calmed himself.

"Who were you talking to?" My question caused Chib's to jump, spinning round to look at me wide eyed.

"What did ya' hear?" Chib's asked instead of answering me.

"You were cursing enough to deafen someone but other than that, that was about it." I answered honestly, seeing no point in pushing him further.

"Ya' know Claire wasn't always like this," As Chib's spoke he gestured to the house behind me. "She didn't have houses where she allowed people she'd help escape out of Ireland stay, or where she let people store or assemble weapons. Yea, she worked for the club since she was young but she was never anythin' like this." There was a sense of defeat and loss in Chib's voice as he spoke.

"Who did this to her then?" I questioned again, hoping that the name he gave would be the same person he had been on the phone to.

"I think ya' know that one already." He answered simply before he walked back into the house to leave me with my thoughts. Her father had done this to her, pushed her so far that she had become a legend in the MC life but one that he disowned. As I walked back towards the dining room I began to hear the start of what seemed to be a fight. Aw s_hit!_

"You're putting it on wrong." A sickly sweet voice sounded, _Charlie, _I groaned mentally_._

"No I'm not," Tig's aggressive snarl replied.

"Yes. You. Are." The sweetness had left Charlie's voice now, leaving it cold and blunt.

"No. I'm. Fucking. Not." The closer I got to the dining room the louder Tig's snarl became; mind you I think it was rising anyway.

"Oh really, then tell me why it's not going on then?" _What the fuck are the arguing about, _I thought dryly, _better be worth it._

"It is, your just being an impatient bitch." Yep, Tig was definitely pissed off now, _great._

"Guess what biker boy, I'm not an impatient bitch, and you're trying to put it on back to front." _Not the best move there princess, _I thought silently as I reached the door of the dining room. As I looked in I saw that both Charlie and Tig had riffles in their hands, _probably not the safest thing in the world_, and were standing at opposite ends of the table from each other, yet they wore the same _'I want to kill you look'._

"I think I know how to put a scope on a riffle." Tig's snarl had me leaning against the door frame and settling in to watch out the rest of Charlie's and Tig's little spat.

"Obviously not seeing as your doing it wrong," I chuckled slightly at Charlie's come back, flicking my gaze up to see that Chib's had sat down in one of the dining table chairs, unnoticed by the two and sat watching them, an amused expression clear on his face.

"I never do _it _wrong." Tig's double meaning to his words was clear as day and Charlie didn't hesitate to snap out a comeback.

"Well your hands tell a different story, I don't think you've mastered _it _yet, you might need to be trained up a bit more." I had to stop myself from full on laughing at Charlie's words, granted Tig did some twisted shit but no one and I mean no one ever complained about Tig afterwards, he seemed to leave all his girls satisfied, bruised maybe, but definitely satisfied.

"Well you need to take that pole out of your ass," Tig was getting severely pissed off now and with a quick nod in Chib's direction I meant to grab Charlie and drag her out of the room before she seriously got herself hurt.

"Why you son of a ..." Clamping my hand down over Charlie's mouth, I forced her out of the dining room and into a small room further down the hallway. _Never leave Charlie and Tig alone. _That was a warning I should seriously listen to if I was going to keep Charlie and Tig from ripping each other apart before I had a chance to get Claire back safely.

**So there you have it :) sorry if there's any mistakes and I'm sorry if anyone was offended by anything :/ other than that review and let me know what you think :D xo**


	12. Chapter 12

**Omg I'm so sorry that it has taken me so long to upload but I've had exams for the last two weeks straight :( but I'm back now and I hope you enjoy this chapter :) xo**

Chapter 12

"Where the hell is that kid, I'm fucking starving." I heard Tig's deep voice grumbled from his spot on the opposite end of the porch from me. I noticed how he never looked up from the beer bottle in his hands as he spoke, _what's eating him, _I silently questioned. The weather for this time in the year was unnaturally warm so we had all decided to move out and sit on the back porch as we waited for Koz to come back from his run for breakfast, and that had been nearly an hour ago, _no wonder Tig's grumpy, I'm hungry too, _I thought as I felt my stomach churn. Tig had started chucking back beers as soon as he and Charlie had been separated after their first argument, his slightly tipsy state wasn't helping his temper any and I wasn't going to be the one to take the bottle out of his hand, my face was still healing from its meeting with Claire and Chib's fists thank you very much, I wasn't in the mood to get hit again.

"Its six in the fucking morning, how can you drink that crap?" As Charlie spoke, fully ignoring Tig's question about Koz, her face scrunched up at the obvious distaste she had for Tig's early morning drinking binge.

"Keep your opinions to yourself bitch, you're the reason I'm drinking." Ever since Charlie and Tig's fight earlier, Tig had been doing everything in his power to push Charlie's buttons, just so he could see how hard he had to push to make her snap, and she had been doing exactly the same thing back, _fucking children, _I grumbled internally.

"How the hell am I the reason you're drinking? You don't even know me!" _We have a winner, _I thought sarcastically as I watched Charlie's features harden into a solid glare, anger burned deep in her eyes as she spoke.

"So close darling," Tig spoke with a humourless chuckle, "Ever think I'm drinking to forget the fact that I ever met you?" Tig's cold smirk did nothing to discourage Charlie from their petty argument, an argument that was brewing quickly between them, _here we go again, _I thought dryly.

"Drinking's a nasty habit _Tigger," _Charlie sneered at Tig, her Irish accent starting to come through once again. "One day you'll drink yourself into a grave and no matter how hard ya' drink after that, you ain't ever goin' to be able to forget about where ya' ended up." The bitterness in her voice hit hard, even to me and as the cold silence fell over the four of us it made me feel very uncomfortable. I saw as Chib's shifted nervously in his wicker seat by the back door of the house in front of me and I realised then that I wasn't the only one feeling uncomfortable, it was then that I saw the complete expressionless mask Tig wore out of the corner of my eye. It was a mask I had only ever saw a couple of times. A mask he only ever wore when he felt at his most vulnerable, one that made sure everything thing stayed hidden. We stayed in silence for about five minutes before I heard the sound of a door bell ringing, the sounded floated through the open back door to reaching us.

"That most be Koz," Charlie spoke quickly as she all but jumped out of her chair in her haste, "He must have forgotten to lift the key like I told him to." As Claire spoke her voice was hushed and distant, my gaze flicked up to see that Tig was following her every movement, a strange expression settled over his face as he watched Charlie leave and re-enter the house.

"Why the fuck are all Irish birds such pains in the ass," Tig finally snapped, but I could tell he was more pissed off with himself than anything else.

"You hit to close to home with your comment, that much was obvious," Chib's spoke calmly. "Irish lasses ain't the problem Tig, ya' just gota' know how to handle that mouth of yours. Irish woman are a fiery breed, it's the way they're born, they come out kicking and screaming, so don't give them a reason to start a fight." Chib's answer made me chuckle slightly but Tig's only response was a snarl in Chib's direction before he chucked his still half full beer bottle down the garden, rage fuelling his movements. The silence that followed wasn't uncomfortable but as I started to relax I heard the sound of raised voices coming from the front of the house.

"Why are you here?" Charlie's voice was icy and the sound of it had Tig shooting up and out of his seat and moving towards the door in seconds, with one look at Chib's I was following Tig straight through the open back door and into the kitchen, Chib's following close behind me.

"I heard 'bot some SAMCRO dicks headin' this way, thought I'd come let ya' know so ya' could get away." The voice was distinctly male but at the sound of yet another Irish accent I threw a _'what the fuck' _look at Chib's who just shrugged his shoulders, _great fucking help you are, _I mentally growled at him.

"Bullshit," Charlie's voice was still as cold as it had been but I could hear a sharp, angry edge to it now. I was trying to figure out what the hell was happening when I noticed Tig pulling out his gun as he started to edge round the door that lead to the hallway where Charlie was standing in.

"What are you doing?" I hissed quietly at Tig, making sure not to attract Charlie's attention while blocking Tig's path to the hallway at the same time.

"That guy is toying with Charlie, that asshole is scaring the shit out of her, can't you hear her? You really want me to stand here and let that happen?" The fact that Tig had said nothing about the guy talking shit about SAMCRO shocked me slightly but I filed that bit of information away for later because at the moment all I needed to worry about was how to make sure Tig calmed down enough to not start shooting the random stranger standing at the front door with Charlie.

"Shut up and listen," I growled at him keeping my voice low, "She can defend herself, she's already proved that! She's proved it against you and all, so shut the fuck up, and listen! Maybe we can find something out about her and whoever the fuck this guy is so we can use it later." Tig continued to glare hard at me but he didn't step out into the hallway and start shooting which I decided to take as a blessing at the moment.

"Charlotte, lov', don't be an idiot, you can't help them out." The guys voice was gruff I noticed as the sounds of the conversation between Charlie and the stranger started to fill the silence Tig, Chib's and myself stood in.

"Why? Oh, wait I know why, it's 'cause your boss will get all pissed off 'cause your family's hangin' out with race traitors so you'll lose your right hand seat, your position of fucked up power!" Know that got my attention. _Who the fuck was this guy? And how the hell did Charlie know him?_

"You don't know shit 'bot what you're talkin' 'bot! Your just bein' the loyal bitch ya' are to that whore Claire!" _Oh, hell no, _I thought and it was know my turn to pull at the gun tucked into the back of my pants but Tig's hand gripped at my wrist stopping me, _we're even now bro', _I mused.

"Stop, stop right there! You don't get to say anythin' 'bot Claire. She was the one that was there for me! She was the one that helped me when everythin' went south! She's the one that got me out of that hell hole when my _brother _turned me away!" I heard Charlie's voice break slightly as she finished speaking and from experience with women, I assumed that she would have tears streaming down her face by now, with that in mind I sent Tig a sympathetic look before going back to listening, noticing the obvious strain Tig's jaw was under.

"I turned ya' away 'cause my family was threatened." The guy, who I was assuming was her brother snapped quickly back at Charlie.

"Your family," Charlie screeched, "I'm your god damn sister and you'd rather protect some whore that took your fancy for longer than five seconds than me!" The sickening sound of flesh meeting flesh echoed through the whole house. _The bastard hit her!_ My mind screamed while out of the corner of my eye I saw Chib's yanked hard on Tig's collar as he lunged towards the hallway.

"You don't get to talk about her. Get the fuck out of town now, take you pussy whipped biker boys with ya' and don't look back." Charlie's _brother's _voice was laced with venom as he spoke.

"You're missin' part of your threat there Connor." Charlie's voice never wavered as she spoke and I felt a brief smile pull at my lips because of it, _girls got a set on her._

"Seein' you seem to think you're so damn clever all of a sudden Charlotte, tell me what the hell I've missed." Connor's voice was calm, but I could make out the underlying impatience in it.

"And they always thought you were the smarter twin Connor, god how they were wrong." There was a short paused while Charlie seemed to gather her breath, quickly continuing before Connor could speak. "You forgot the death threat." Charlie's voice was empty when she finally spoke.

"Why would I say anythin' like that?" I could hear the smirk the sick asshole was wearing as he questioned Charlie back.

"'Cause last time I checked, it was you who shot me first." Silence fell over the entire house, the kind of silence where you didn't even breathe for fear of breaking it.

"Now why would ya' bring that up sis?" Connor questioned with a slight chuckle.

"I'm just makin' a point," Charlie spoke as if she was commenting about something completely trivial like the weather, "Now get the hell of my property before I shoot you."

"You goin' to try and kill me like your precious little Claire, drug me like she did and see if I go under?" _What?_

"No, that sins on Claire, but I promise ya', when I try and kill ya' I won't miss." There was no more talking and after a while the only sound that could be heard was of the front door closing with a soft click. We never had a chance to get out of the kitchen before Charlie walked in, shock colouring her features when she saw the three of us standing there. "What did you all hear?" Charlie asked weakly, her accent receding as she calmed and her shoulders dropping.

"Most of it," Chib's answered honestly for all of us as I leant back against the counter and looked out of the back window to my right.

"Here," I looked up at the sound of Tig's voice, he was holding out an ice pack towards Charlie, _where did he pull that out off?_ "It'll help the swelling and the sting." Charlie looked like she was on the verge of crying again as Tig moved his hand so he could hold the ice pack to the cheek that had been slapped.

"You saw?" Charlie asked her voice void of any emotion while her face slid into a frozen mask, _doesn't want her fight partner going soft on her, _my mind guessed.

"We heard," Tig spoke softly to her, ignoring the way Charlie was trying to close off and recede back in on herself. "We're smarter than we look princess," He then gave her what I guessed was meant to be a reassuring smile before pressing the ice pack tighter to her injured cheek, drawing a hiss from Charlie in the process.

"Yeo, assholes, where are you?" At the sound of Koz's voice we all jumped, Tig worst of all, he also quickly let go of the ice pack and moved to the other side of the room, as far as he could from Charlie I observed.

"In here dipshit," I called out to Koz, who came sauntering into the kitchen only moments later, a tray of takeout cups in one hand and a large brown bag in the other.

"I brought breakfast," He spoke happily, a boyish smile on his lips, "So what happened in here then?" Koz questioned as he took in the image of all us standing awkwardly around the kitchen.

"Nothing," Charlie spoke as she cleared her throat, "I have to go make some calls so be ready to leave in about an hour." I watched as Charlie all but ran from the room in her haste to leave, chucking the ice pack into the sink as she passed.

"So..." Koz started slowly, looking at Tig as he spoke but he was quickly cut off.

"You don't say a word Blondie!" Tig snapped, finally looking at Koz instead of the door that Charlie had left through. Tig's jaw was clenched tight as he fought to control his temper, I could have sworn I was able to hear his teeth grinding from my place at the opposite side of the room. "I'm not ok with you being here and I'm sure as hell not ok with you knowing my shit!" Tig's voice had turned into a fully fledged snarl as he spoke, "I'm going for a ride, none of you fucks follow me either, I'll be back in about an hour, tell Charlie..." Tig paused, snapped his mouth shut and stormed towards the front door, slamming it hard enough to make the hinges rattle as he left.

"Asshole's got it bad," Chib's muttered to himself as he walked past me on his way to grab some of the food Koz had brought back. "Koz can you leave us a second, I need to talk to Happy, its family business." _Shit! _Koz left with a small salute at Chib's, grabbing a takeout bag and coffee cup for himself out of the pile of food on the table as he headed towards the door that lead out to the back porch.

"What do you need?" I asked Chib's after a moments silence had passed. I had to swallow the sudden urge to add "sir" to the end of my question because there was no way in hell I was acting like some piece of whipped pussy in front of him, even if I had an insane urge to protect my balls at the glare he sent my way.

"You'll probably never meet Claire's Da', especially with the way things are between them two, so I'm gona' do this for him." _Fuck, shit, bollocks! _I knew exactly where this conversation was heading, and there was no way I was ever getting out of it, _good luck buddy, _my mind spoke smugly. "What are your intentions towards Claire?" I watched as he sat down in one of the chairs that sat around the small breakfast table in the kitchen, his gaze never leaving mine as he did. "Ya' better have a better answer than silence lad, 'cause if that's the only answer ya' can give me I'll do a whole lot worse to ya' than what SAMCRO did to that piece of shit that raped the Oswald girl." I had know from the start that if anything I did to upset or hurt Claire I was in for a world of pain but it was the look on Chib's face made that promise all the more real.

"I'm not some piece of shit punk who just walked in off the street Chib's," I finally snapped at him, my defences rising parallel with my anger. "I know how to treat Claire without you threatening to cut my balls off! Granted I'm a bastard but I wouldn't fucking hurt her! Jesus Christ, what do you think I am? Some kind of fucked up monster? Damn it, Claire's managed to get so far under my fucking skin that if anything happens to her, it would be as if half of myself was being forcefully ripped from me! Do you have any idea how much this scares me? The fact that Claire is the first person in my entire life to ever hold this kind of power over me! It scares the crap out of me!" I was in full rant mode at that minute in time and for the life of me I couldn't seem to make the words that were spilling out of my mouth stop. As I looked up I saw that Chib's was wearing a blank expressionless mask, his blank expression only served to add to the sense of dread that was rising within me at speed. "The weirdest part though, is that I actually want someone to hold that kind of power over me," As I spoke I lowered my voice, realising that ranting wouldn't changed the fact that Chib's was probably never going to accept that I was good enough for Claire, _and we both know it's true brother, _my mind spoke starkly. "I want that person to be Claire. She grounds me. She shows me what is truly important in this fucked up world without dragging me away from the only place I've ever felt accepted for who, what I am. She accepts me, accepts the club, and you have no idea what respect and relief I feel towards Claire because of that." I sat down heavily into a chair across from Chib's with a defeated sigh. I had one last thing I could say to prove my "intentions", whatever the fuck they were, towards Claire. I was about to show something I had never shown to a brother of mine before in my whole time in SAMCRO, weakness, and Claire really was my one and only weakness. "I feel like I'm empty, hallow almost at the minute, as if I'm doing all the right actions, saying all the right words but it's as if I'm stuck on autopilot or something. I've felt like this ever since I had to watch Jimmy drive off with her while I stood helpless by the side of the fucking road. The only moment I've felt normal was for those five seconds that I saw Claire at that shitty road side diner before she was shoved into the back seat of that SUV." I paused taking a deep breath before I continued, preparing myself for the beating I might end up getting for what I was about to say next. "The cold honest truth Chib's is that I have no fucking clue what my intentions towards Claire are because I have no fucking idea what she wants from me!" I knew I sounded desperate but I couldn't help it and in the silence that fell over the pair of us, I held my breath.

"You should starting drawing then," Chib's said cryptically as he rose from his seat. I watched as he continued to walk towards the back door, I had been fully prepared to be lying on the ground in a pool of my own blood at the moment but instead I was thoroughly confused by his actions. "Ya' should really tell her that ya' lov' her, and ya' should really do it as soon as possible so she doesn't end up been the one ya' let get away." Chib's words were quiet and said over his shoulder but they held no less meaning for me because of the way they were delivered. _You never know when times going to run out, _my mum had told me those words shortly after the doctors had told her she had cancer and now I saw the true meaning they held for me. _Fuck!_

**So I hoped you enjoyed ^^ sorry if there's any mistakes in the grammar or spelling and I promise that the story's going to speed up, I just wanted you to see how deep Happy's feeling really go ... So all that's left for you to do now is review and let me know what you think :) xo**


	13. Chapter 13

**OMG I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to upload a new chapter but here you are :) I just want to say thanks for all you who've put this as a story alert and made it your favourite story, your support is wonderful :D so I hope you enjoy xo **

**Chapter 13**

"Ok, we need to get moving, and now would be a good time," Charlie called as she came sauntering through the back door, phone in hand. She propped herself up against the frame of the back door as she surveyed the room, and I watched as her eyes narrowed. "Where. The. Fuck. Is. Tig?" I would have laughed at the site of Charlie seething away by her spot by the door, but the cold glare that formed across her features had me quickly swallowing the chuckle that was building in my throat.

"He went for a ride, left just after I showed up here with the food." Koz answered Charlie with a shrug, although he never did look up from the car magazine he was flicking through, _where did the little prick find that?_ I thought distractedly.

"Why the fuck would Tig do something like that? Why the fuck did he just suddenly decided he needed a ride? Doesn't he understand a fucking thing? Christ!" Charlie swore again as she ran her hands threw her hair, tugging hard at the ends of it, letting out a small growl when her fingers snagged in it, turning in the door way so she was facing away from us. "Can either of you three get hold of him or something? Ring him or something?" It was only as Charlie turned back around to face us did I finally see the panic forming in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" My question had Chib's and Koz looking up in sync, first looking at me with confusion then turning to face Charlie looking for an answer. _She's got their full attention now, _I thought ruefully, _now all she just has to do is explain what the fuck she's talking about._

"My brother's is the problem! He'll kill him! You were there, you heard what he said," Charlie paused once again to tug at her hair again before she continued to speak. "Tig isn't on SAMCRO turf anymore, or even Irish, it's Aryan! He's out there alone and if my brother and his messed up gang members have spotted him he'll be in a shit load of danger!" The words spilled from Charlie's mouth so quickly that I had trouble figuring out what she had said. In the time it had taken me to get Charlie's rant straight in my head she had already disappeared back through the door way she'd been standing in, but the unmistakeable banging and slamming from the kitchen told me she hadn't disappeared off far.

"He's not answering," Chib's said from beside me, "What are we meant to do now?" He asked, looking at me questionably.

"We need to talk Charlie out of going on a fucked up rescue mission. We need her alive to get Claire back." My words could be taken as heartless but I couldn't bring myself to care, I wanted, needed Claire back, Tig could wait, he was wise enough to look after himself.

"What the hell are you three talking about?" Koz soundly yelled causing me and Chib's to look at him, "And why the hell does Charlie have a shot gun?" _Shit! _I spun myself round quickly and ran into the kitchen, Chib's and a confused Koz following behind me.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I growled as I entered the kitchen. I was greeted by the sight of Charlie shrugging on her leather jacket while at the same time grabbing a, _was that an AK, _from the cupboard above the sink, a shot gun lying on the counter beside her.

"What do ya' think I'm gona' do?" _That accents back, _I mused, _means one thing, she's pissed, joy. _My mental conversation was interrupted by Claire speaking again. "Ya' think I'm just gona' sit here and be the helpless little lady while you three go skipping round this shit whole looking for him? Please! I know this place. I know it's fucked up rules. I know how to survive in this town." Charlie never looked up throughout her whole rant instead every sentence she spoke was punctuated with metallic clicks, some were from Charlie loading ammo into the magazine of the AK while others were from the barrel on the shot gun being closed.

"Your gona' get yourself killed lass if ya' go runnin' around this town with that much fire power!" It was Chib's turn to see if he could talk some sense into Charlie, but his words seemed to be falling on deaf ears. "What 'bout your brother, he'll be waitin' out there for ya' if he thinks one rebellious biker takin' a drive without tellin' ya' is gona' have ya' runnin' of alone and unprotected." Even though Chib's spoke perfect sense, Charlie ignored every word coming out of his mouth and instead favoured checking over her weapons instead of listening to reason. _If this is how a woman gets when the guy she had a crush on disappears, how is a woman in love with a guy going to act? How would Claire act if I meant missing? _As my mind started to fill with unrelated questions I nearly missed as Charlie made a move towards the front door, AK slung over her back as if she was heading to war. It was then that a voice called out, the only voice able to freeze Charlie in her place, _thank you god we have a miracle._

"What the hell do you think you're doing Charlie? Why the fuck are you running around with an AK for? You could get seriously hurt if you aren't careful!" I had never been so relieved to hear Tig's pissed off voice but the edge of possessiveness in it didn't go amiss. At the sound of Tig's voice Charlie had froze in her spot at the door but even though I felt relief that Charlie wouldn't end up doing anything stupid and getting hurt, I was suddenly worried about how she was going to react to Tig's sudden appearance.

"Tig," Charlie's voice was cold as she spoke, turning slowly in her place so that she was finally facing Tig and the rest of us. "Oh, hunny, where did you run off to?" Her voice was sickly sweet now and as I looked up at Tig, I recognised the look on his face and I could bet that the only thought that was going through his head at the moment was, _oh fuck. _I had chuckle to myself though, _the bastard had it coming._

"I needed to calm down so I went for a ride," Tig answered with a shrug, swallowing hard though, I saw.

"Oh, darlin' why didn't ya tell me ya' needed to get away and clear your head for a bit? Is all the stress from your job finally gettin' to ya'?" Charlie had set her guns down sometime during her questioning and had now propped her hands on her hips, the universal sign to any man that the woman in front of him was pissed, really pissed. _Good luck bro', _I thought sympathetically. "Do you have any idea whose turf you're on? The serious danger ya' could have put yourself and you're brothers in if ya' got caught? You have no idea how many people in this town would be happy to burn that cut on your back! With you still wearin' it! You're a dick, an actual fucking dick! Do ya' have any idea what could have happened to you? Did ya' listen to anythin' my brother said to me? The people in this town _really _don't like SAMCRO!" Tig stood there staring at Charlie slacked jawed and I couldn't help but laugh at the shocked expression Tig wore. _The_ _guy wasn't used to getting his arse handed to him, especially when it was a woman handing it to him._ My laugh seemed to bring Tig out of his shocked state but before he even had a chance to defend himself, Charlie started to talk again. "We need to leave now. We've wasted too much fucking time already," Charlie didn't give us a chance to question her, she threw a cold glare at Tig before turning and walking towards the front door, keys in hand.

By the time we finally hit the road it was nearly eight in the morning, the sun was just starting to make itself known and a cool breeze had settled in as we drove out of the small town we had been set up in. Charlie drove in front of the three of us, leading the way to The Strip, leading me to Claire. It took us close to two hours to reach an enclosed, private looking field which backed onto what looked like forest.

"This hardly looks like a run way?" Koz spoke out as we pulled to a stop along side Charlie's SUV.

"That's 'cause it ain't smartass," Charlie answered as she rounded the SUV, never looking at us as she opened the boot of the car. "We've got a good forty five minute hike till we reach The Strip."

"Then why the fuck are we here and not at The Strip then?" Koz, the ever fucking _genius _of our little messed up gang questioned.

"You really are a slow bastard ain't ya?" A round of chuckles greeted Charlie's statement while Koz just stood there with a dazed expression on his face. "Normally people use quads and bikes to move their cargo from The Strip to here or the other side of the forest but we can't. We need to make sure we aren't noticed here at all that's why we're parked up here and why Claire is directing Jimmy and his crew to the other side." _Jesus Christ, _I thought, _Claire and her have this planned from every angle. How long have they been planning this?_

"Ya' need help with those bags?" Chib's ever the gentleman offered, his gruff voice snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Well they are the guns you four are gona' be using so yea, a little help would be nice." Charlie's tone was playful as she spoke but you could hear the unsaid meaning in them. It was as she spoke I noticed how she seemed to be slipping further and further into her Irish accent, _wonder why? _As I was making my way over to lift my share of the bags I watched as Charlie snatched a black case out of the reach of Tig's hands, the brief flash of hurt that covered his face only noticeable to those looking directly at him.

"Sorry, but no-one touches my baby." At Charlie's words, the hurt look that passed across Tig's vanished and was replaced by one of confusion. Charlie caught Tig's look and was quick to explain herself, "It's my snippier riffle. I don't like anyone else touching it." Her comment had Tig giving her a knowing nod, we all had a weapon like that, a weapon that not even our brothers were allowed to touch.

"Why do you need a snippier riffle?" I asked as I stopped beside Tig, curiosity and dread vying for first place in my head.

"There's a rock, cliff face beside The Strip, it's great for cover for small planes, but it's also a good hidey spot for a snippier, so when you lads are on the ground, you'll be covered by me up top." Charlie's answer was so care free that I was stunned into silence; Tig on the other hand lost it.

"Like fuck you're going to be anywhere near that place when this shit goes down!" _Oh, shit!_

"And who the hell do you think you are, given me orders?" Charlie growled back, her voice just as full of rage as Tig's had been.

"Who am I? _Who am I? _I'm the guy who is trying to make sure you don't get hurt! You really think we're going to have time to check up on you in the middle of a fire fight?" Tig had managed to corner Charlie up against the side of the SUV, but Charlie stood firm, refusing to back down.

"Get. The. Fuck. Out. Off. My. Face." Each one of Charlie's hissed words were punctuated by a solid shove to Tig's chest, which had him stumbling backwards with the force of them. "You have no idea who I am lov' so don't think for one second ya' have the right to order me 'bout! Ya' take my orders until we get Claire back and then ya' get the fuck outa' me life and go back to bein' a man-whorin' biker boy, ya' got me!" Charlie's words were spoke through clenched teeth, the rage in her words apparent to the four of us and even when Tig tried to speak she cut him of calmly and callously. "Grab the bags, and start walkin' and do it in silence, we don't know who could be in these woods already." As Charlie started to close up the SUV an uncomfortable silence fell over the four of us. I could make out the sound of Charlie's raged breathing, the sound of Chib's and Koz talking in hushed voices but the thing that put me on edge was the eerie calmness that was emanating from where Tig stood to my left.

"We leave as soon as you get Claire back." Tig stated when I gave him a questioning look, "You put her on the back of your bike and we drive, we don't look back." _What the fuck? _My mind screamed, _what the hell has gotten into him. Isn't he meant to be fighting for her? I thought he liked Charlie?"_

"Tig, you know we can't do that," I started to say but was stopped by Chib's hand on my shoulder.

"Leave him be, ya' won't do any good talkin' to him when he's been cut down like that." Even though Chib's words were meant to calm me they did no such thing. "We need to follow Charlie, you and Tig bring up the rear, I'll take Blondie with me, keep Charlie distracted for a while so Tig can calm down. They'll both need the distraction before this shit goes down, they'll need their minds clear of this drama."

Walking to The Strip was hard work, especially seeing we were carrying the extra weight of all the weapons we had with us. By the time Charlie finally dumped her bags down onto a rock at the edge of a large meadow, I had stripped out off my cut and shirt, leaving myself in just my undershirt.

"She wasn't kidding when she said it would be a hike," I said sarcastically as I dropped my own duffel down. A quick glance to my left told me that Tig was still not talking, or at least just ignoring the world around him and everyone in it, accept as he followed Charlie's movements with his eyes.

"We have a couple of hours until Claire and Jimmy's lot should show up, so I'm gona' scout up the rock face and see if I can find a good look out spot, I shouldn't be too long." As Charlie spoke she hefted the black case with her riffle in onto her back, tightening the straps over her shoulders as she spoke again. "You lot gona' be ok gettin' your shit together when I'm away?" She never waited for an answer to her question before she continued, "There'll be water in one of those bags, I'd drink it now while ya' have time, 'cause after this goes down everythin' will seem like it's spirallin' outa' control for awhile." With those words Charlie spun around and headed towards where I saw the beginnings of a trail that seemed to twist up behind the rock face. I watched Charlie go and I couldn't help the wave of sympathy I felt go through me as Tig flinched as Charlie brushed passed him icily. Time was running out, but I couldn't figure out for whom, and if it was going to be a good thing or a bad thing.

**There you have it, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter ^^ sorry if there's any mistakes or anything but please, please review and let me know how you feel about how the stories going :) thank you xo**


	14. Chapter 14

**Ok sorry this took so long to update but I got a review from a reader called ****Marsch** **the review kicked started something I've been meaning to do for a while, so my thanks go to Marsch. I've went back over all the earlier chapters and fixed spelling and grammar stuff, but if there's any I've missed let me know and I'll fix it :)**

**Ok, so enough of me talking here's the next chapter, thanks for those who have kept reading this story, I hope you enjoy ^^ xo**

Chapter 14

"You better not be takin' us on a wild goose chase darlin'? I'd hate to have to snap that delicate little neck of yours." As a deep Irish accent started to echo around The Strip, Koz, Chib's, Tig and myself dived into action, going for cover, our hands grabbed instantly for our weapons as we went.

"I'm not your darlin' asshole so stop calling me it!" My heart clenched tight as the sound of the one voice I had been longing to hear most in this world floated through the clearing and to where I was crouched down in the dirt, gun in hand and waiting.

"Listen bitch," The deep voice started again and I could feel the anger rise within me, _how dare that bastard speak to my Claire like she was some common whore!_

"Enough!" _Jimmy, _"Jackie, shut up! Our little Claire here wouldn't dare try to play us now would she? She knows what will happen to that precious little biker family of hers if she did." The sarcastic sneer Jimmy's words held was obvious and I couldn't help the way my finger tightened round the trigger of my glock, the urge to spring up and put a bullet in his head was nearly becoming too much.

"I know ya' have no heart but can ya' stop being a dickhead and keep your dog on a leash; I'm allergic to his bullshit." I felt a proud smile grow across my face at Claire's smartass comment but the sick clap of flesh meeting flesh had it falling away from my features quickly, a sinister grin replacing it.

"Remember your place Claire," I heard Jimmy growl in warning, "Ya' know what happens to ya' when you speak outa' term." I could hear that as the sounds of voices grew louder that they were advancing on our hiding spot.

"My place, as what? Your bitch! Go fuck yourself Jimmy!" Bile rose in my throat as the crunch of a fist colliding with something, someone, flooded my hearing. My mind screamed for me to forget the plan, to go to Claire but Chib's placing his hand on my shoulder stopped me even though my heart felt as though it was being forcefully ripped from my chest.

"Breathe," I heard Chib's whisper harshly in my ear. "If ya' stick to the plan, Claire doesn't get anymore injuries that she's planned for!" Chib's cold words had me swallowing hard to keep the bile in my throat from rising any further, but I stayed in my place.

"Hold your tongue or your new found friend Jackie here will cut it out." They were all in the centre of the clearing now so from out hiding spot we could see everything that was happening. Claire sat on her knees, blood trickling down the lower half of her face in two thick streaks from her nose. Jimmy stood behind her, teeth bared like some feral dog as he spoke, a fistful of Claire's hair twisted in his hand so that Claire was forced to look up at him at a painful angle. The man that I assumed was Jackie stood to Jimmy's left, the blade in his hand catching in the light as he twisted it in his palm. The rest of Jimmy's goons stood around the three of them in a semi-circle, watching silently.

"It's nearly time!" A nerdy, stick of a man said suddenly called as he typed furiously away on what looked like an Iphone from where I was. _Time for what?_

"Good, make sure the quads are ready to go when the time comes." Jimmy's order had two of his men nodding and walking away, heading towards the forest once again. _Have to take care of them late, _my minded noted. "Now Claire, which side will the plane come from Claire?" Jimmy questioned as he tugged hard on the fistful of Claire's hair he was holding onto causing her to fall backwards and land on her ass. She made no sound as she fell but her eyes were shut tight, wrinkled in pain. The sight of Claire in pain had my whole body convulsing with the need to move, to go to her, to help her, but the hand on my shoulder tightened stopping me.

"Soon," That one word from Chib's held so much promise in it that I couldn't help but believe him.

"Which side," Jimmy started to question again but a plane flew over the top of the clearing causing a deafening roar to fill it, but I never looked away from the group in front of me as it did. At the sound of the planes engines Claire's eyes snapped open and she dived forward onto the ground, forgetting that Jimmy was still clutching tight to her hair and dragging him down with her. In the split second it took for Claire to dive to the ground two of Jimmy's men had fallen to the ground the ground under them turning crimson. _Charlie._

"Move!" The gruff voice of Chib's yelled causing the rest of us to jump into action. The sound of shots being fired drowning out everything else, the sound of shouting and cursing lost in the sound of gun fire. Killing came second nature to me now after so many years protecting the club, protecting my brothers. It came so natural to me now that pulling the trigger and watching as some nameless man dropped dead in front of me didn't even make me bat an eyelid. The calmness that surrounded me made it seem like hours had passed until the sound of gunfire had stopped but in reality it was barely even minutes.

"We all good?" I heard Tig shout out as silence descended upon us but I didn't bother to answer him, instead I starting moving towards the only thing I cared about in that moment. _Claire. _

"Claire?" I called as I started to jog over to where I had seen Claire last. Silence answered me and panic slowly started to trickle through me, "Claire!" It was as my voice stopped echoing around me that I finally spotted it. Jimmy's body, blood pooling around him, a body trapped underneath him, a body with blonde hair. My jog had turned into a fully fledged sprint, my heart hammering, its pounding echoing loudly in my ears. Skidding to a stop beside Jimmy's body I fell to my knees, shoving hard at his heavy body so that it rolled over onto the ground in front of me. "Claire." I could barely hear my own anguished voice as I saw Claire's pale face, blood splattered over it. "Claire, baby, you have to wake up for me," I spoke as I leant forward to check that she was still breathing. Her breath hit my cheek so gently that I could barely distinguish it from the soft breeze that went through The Strip. I could feel the stares from my brothers on my back but I never turned for I knew that they would be closing in on where I knelt.

"Is she still..." I heard Koz half ask before he cut himself off.

"Happy?" Claire's weak voice choked out in the silence the fell after Koz's half asked question.

"Claire!" I spoke in shock before quickly going into panic mode, "Baby where does it hurt?"

"Is everywhere a good enough answer for ya'," Claire said with a fragile chuckle, "I feel like I've been hit by a damn truck."

"Get Charlie down here now!" I heard Chib's order gruffly; his order was closely followed by the sound of Tig bellowing Charlie's name, _bet he wants to know she's ok even though they're acting like dick at the minute, _my thought separately.

"Happy, move," I heard Chib's say but I refused to move, I had just got Claire back and I was not leaving her side. "We need to get pressure on her wound Happy, I need to stop the bleedin' ya' dumb shit, now move!" I felt myself being shoved backwards from me spot beside Claire but I barely felt it as my body collapsed on the ground. Charlie was suddenly kneeling beside me, stripping out of her jacket and using it to try and stem the blood coming from the bullet wound in Claire's shoulder.

"Claire we need to get ya' to hospital, I can't do anythin' for that shoulder." I heard Charlie speak calmly to Claire as she pressed down on Claire's wound.

"Yea, I get that," There was a pause in Claire's words as she breathed in only to let out a groan of pain as she did so. "Ok hospital might be a good thing, damn; I think that bastard fucked up my ribs too. The Irish brought quads with them, we used them 'cause fuck, I think they're the only way that I'm gona' get outa' this place bar a miracle." I had no idea how Claire did it, how she had the strength to lie there in obvious pain, yet tell Charlie exactly how this was all going to go down.

"We can use their bikes to get her to my SUV quicker, then I can drive her to a hospital and you lot can follow after, once I've got her settled in _and _checked that's its clear, you lot can come visit her." Charlie spoke coolly and got a nod of agreement from Chib's for her plan; _fuck no, _my mind countered.

"Why the fuck should you be the only one to go with Claire?" I heard myself growl at Charlie, my possessive side making itself known as the threat of Claire being taken away from me became apparent.

"Since I'm the only one without a criminal recorded!" Charlie shot back at me, never looking up from where she was working on Claire.

"Happy," Claire started but ended up cursing as Charlie pushed a little too hard on her wound. "Fuck Charlie I know you're a doctor and shit but come on, would ya' at least try to break me further."

"And when the fuck did you have time to become a doctor?" Ok I'll be the first to admit I was curious, and from the questioning look on Tig's face he was too. _There's a fuck load I don't know here, _I thought numbly, _that needs to change._

"I've been one for nearly five years," Charlie snarled at me, "anything else you wana' know or can I go back to trying to get Claire to a hospital so that she's actually alive to play twenty questions with ya' in the future?" I was about to snap back at Charlie but Claire's weak voice cut me off.

"Enough," Claire's voice snapped, and at that point I saw how much stress us fighting was putting her under, _shit, not good, not good, _I thought with slight panic. "Look I'm in pain, I _need _to go to hospital, and the only way I'm gettin' there is if all of ya' shut up for long enough to work together and get me there. So please, for me, just shut up!"

Getting Claire down to the SUV was a painful one not just for Claire, who passed out halfway through the journey when she succumbed to the pain radiating through her entire body but for me as well. Knowing Claire was in so much pain near ripped me apart seeing I knew there was nothing I could do for her. _She's not going on anymore jobs for the club when she heals from this, _I decided shortly after Claire had passed out, _now just to convince Claire that this is for the best. _I could imagine the argument that my decision would bring about in my head when I eventually told Claire about it.

As I watched Charlie hightail it out of the field and disappear down the road I felt dread slowly settle deep within me, something was going to go to happen, bad things normally happened in three's or so they said. First Jimmy came and took Claire from me, second Claire gets injured badly enough that she has to go to hospital, now all that was left to do was to wait for the third bad thing to occur. Sitting down on the quad I had driven Claire down on I sighed deeply, and nearly jumped out of my skin when a hand landed heavily on my shoulder.

"Wash it off." I heard Tig say, but I was too out it to realise he was even speaking to me. "I said wash it off asshole," This time I did realise his words were directed towards me and it was only then did realise he was thrusting a bottle of water towards me. "You keep staring at her blood on your hands any longer and you'll go mad." Even though his words were harsh I could see the genuine concern he had for me, it was only then did I accept the bottle from him, slowly washing the Claire's blood off my hands, the blood I had been staring at unthinkingly.

"So what's the plan then?" I heard Koz ask Chib's quietly as I dried my hands off on the back of my jeans.

"We gota' wait for Charlie to call us," He said in a beaten voice as he shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

"Is there nothing we can do?" I heard myself ask, my voice rough.

"We don't even know what way Charlie took off in, in search of the closest hospital Hap' so as shit as it is we gota' wait." I nodded slowly as Chib's explained knowing that fighting would only cause the pain that we were both feeling at that moment to intensify.

"We can't stay here," Tig's said, flicking his head in the direction of the forest behind me, "We just set fire to a shit load of body's, I don't want to be here when someone finally shows up, we should at least find a motel to crash in if only to clean up a bit." I didn't need to be told twice that I needed to clean up I could feel the blood, still damp on my shirt, clinging to my skin from where I'd suffered my own injuries.

"So," I paused before continuing, "left or right?" I asked as we pulled up to the junction, we had followed the only road available to us as we exited the field we had been parked in.

"Well one direction's going to take us further away for Claire and Charlie and the other's going to take us closer." There was a silence as Koz finished speaking, all of us staring at him questionably.

"Are you looking for a prize for stating the obvious pretty boy?" Tig finally snapped at him.

"What? I was only saying what we were all thinking!" Koz argued back.

"Yea and there was a reason none of us were speaking it allowed you dumb shit."Tig growled.

"Oh really, and what the fuck might that be?" Koz asked dumbly.

"Enough the pair of ya'," Chib's growled, ending the toddler screaming match in front of me. "Ya' ain't help one bit so shut the fuck up of I'm gona' bloody hit ya'." Silence answered Chib's order and with a final nod he stated, "We go left."

"Why?" _Koz!_

"It leads us back to Claire's house," I answered with a shrug, "It's the safest place we know at the moment."

"True, that." Chib's agreed and I could see Tig nodding out of the corner of my eye while Koz just sat there eyes wide, _asshole_.

Just under an hour later we were pulling up outside the suburban house Charlie had brought us to, I was quite but not quite enough to raise suspicion within me.

"Koz you still have that key Charlie told you to lift when we were here?" Chib's asked as we stood on the porch.

"Yea, I actually do, I meant to give it back like." Koz said as he handed it over.

"There's a garage key on them," I said as Chib's went to unlock the door, "We might want to put the bikes in it, don't want Charlie's brother coming round here and spotting us if he decided to come back." With a tired nod Chib's unlocked the front door and threw the keys to me.

"I'm gona' take a shower, then I'm gona' crash, I feel like the fuckin' walking dead." Chib's words pulled a chuckle from all of us, "Think ya' should all do the same, we ain't slept properly in near four days and I think when ya' see the girls ya' would like to be refreshed." The last part of Chib's sentenced was said with a smirk and as Tig tensed beside me, I shook my head in slight amusement at Chib's subtle dig.

"Tig, man you come with me, Koz you go in and get cleaned up." I spoke as I started walking down the front porch steps. Putting the bikes into the garage was a quick and painless job and as Tig was closing and locking up the garage door I leant back against the porch railings and lit up a smoke.

"Spare us one," Tig asked gruffly and as I took a long draw from my own cigarette, I offered the packet to Tig, the lighter tucked away inside the packet.

"So," I paused, waiting for Tig to get my hint and say something.

"It isn't going to happen," He finally said with a shake of his head, "My life isn't some fairy tale story and it doesn't work out like yours." _Ouch!_

"Bro', can't you at least talk to her before we go so that you don't end this with a whole lot of bullshit between the two of you?" I asked hopefully.

"Look I don't even know what Charlie does for fuck sake!" Tig snapped, "She could have a life up here, a life she doesn't want to give up and I couldn't force her to give that up." The sullen look on Tig's face had my heart sinking for him.

"And what if she would come willingly, what if she hadn't anything here worth her staying for? What if she wanted to come with us?" I countered Tig's depression rant.

"What if's can kill you Happy, better living without them." Tig said evenly.

"Even if it's hurting you," I looked over at Tig when he didn't answer me, only to see him glaring hard at me.

"Stay the fuck out of my business, we clear." Tig growled, ending the conversation as he flicked the butt of his smoke away and walked back into the house.

I followed Tig back into the house after I had finished my own smoke, throwing the butt to the ground and stamping it out under my boot. As I made my way into the house I could hear water running, _guess Tig made it to the shower, _I thought as I began to climb the stairs.

"Happy?" Chib's sleep laced voice made me jump as he stepped out of a closed door on my right.

"Yea," I answered, my own tiredness slowly becoming evident in my voice.

"I just got a text from Charlie, thought ya' would like to read it." As he finished speaking he raised the phone he was holding up, silently offering it to me.

At hospital, Claire in surgery but stable, ttyl when I have more info. – C

"Fuck," I heard myself saying as I slid down the wall at me side, resting my head on my knees when my ass hit the floor.

"She'll be ok Hap', Claire, she won't give up, she'll pull through." Chib's words were comforting but it was at that point, me sitting on the ground in the bum fuck of nowhere with Claire in a hospital that I hadn't a clue where it was, that I realised just how close I had come to actually losing Claire.

"Thanks Chib's," I said with a nod as I forced myself back up into a standing position. "For everything," I the same move I was handing him back his phone and walking towards the bathroom where I had just seen Tig exit not looking back to see the expression on Chib's face as I went.

Stepping into the shower and unconscious groan left me as the hot water pounded down my back, relaxing the stiff muscles it hit against. As the hot water soothed me, I let my mind wonder back over everything that had happened since Claire entered my once calm-ish life and turned it on its head. _Shit, _I thought to myself, _I couldn't have picked a feistier or more driven woman to fall for, could I? _Thinking about Claire eventually brought back the memories of her on our last night together, memories I had suppressed since I was more concerned about having Claire back safely rather than making love to her. _Making Love? Where the fuck had that come from? I had sex, I fucked, whatever you wanted to call it did it, but I didn't make love! With other women, but not with Claire, _my minded said, opposing my internal rant.

"Ok, getting out of the shower now." I growled to myself before I could allow my mind to wonder any further. "I need to sleep and then I can think about this with a clear head."I quickly shut off the shower and slung a towel round my waist and left the bathroom heading for one of the spare rooms that I had thrown my duffel into earlier. Grabbing a pair of fresh boxers, I pulled them on before slipping under the covers, falling asleep before my head even hit the pillow.

"Hap' my man; you need to wake up, Charlie's on the phone downstairs." I heard someone say but I ignored it, hoping the person would go away and give me five more minutes, this bed was far too comfortable to leave just yet, _would be even better with Claire naked in it, _my mind thought on its own accord, causing a groan to form in my throat. "You lazy git, get up!" The next thing I knew was that I was laying face first on the ground, and my nose hurt like a bitch. "Move now, because Charlie won't tell us what's happening until you get there, she doesn't sound good and I'm worried about her, so fucking move!" _Charlie? So that had to be Tig's pain in the ass voice I was hearing then, _I thought.

"Ok," I finally said after Tig decided it would be a good idea to emphasise his point by kicking me in the ribs... hard. "Give me two fucking seconds to get some clothes on and then I'll be there asshole." Grabbing the sheets that had ended up tangled around me back onto the bed I grabbed a pair of clean jeans from my duffel and shoved my legs into them roughly before grabbing a t-shirt and walking out of the bedroom door, shrugging it over my head as I went.

"Glad ya' finally joined us," Chib's gruff voice spoke as I walked into the living room, now fully dressed. "Charlie, he's here, so speak." It was then that I noticed that there was a phone lying on the coffee table.

"We have a problem..." Charlie started but she was quickly cut off by Chib's.

"We figured, now hurry up and tell us what the problem is." Chib's growled down the phone at Charlie, causing Tig to snarl at him.

"There's an agent here, says she's from the ATF, said she was looking into the club." Charlie's words had us all throwing each other worried glances, "shit I can't remember what the agents name was, hold up I was given a card." Another pause followed and I could hear Charlie shuffling around on the other end of the line, "ah," Chalire cried triumphantly before continuing, "the agent was called Stohl." _Oh, fuck!_

**So, what did you think? Review and let me know your opinions, thank you :D xo**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"What did she say specifically?" Chib's asked calmly, interrupting my internal panic.

"She said she was lookin' into the club. That she knew 'bout Claire's connections and if..."

"If what Charlie?" Chib's all but growled losing his calm, pushing Charlie and she paused midsentence.

"She, fuck, she asked if it was SAMCRO who beat the shit out of Claire! That I could tell her everythin' and that she'd protect my, send me into some witness protection thing if I spilled!"

"What?" I snarled out through clenched teeth, "That bitch, I'm going to kill her!" My hatred for Stahl reaching its boiling point, _won't that bitch every back, the fuck, off!_

"Happy, calm down," Chib's snapped at me, obviously recognising where my head was at before looking back at the phone. "Charlie, how bad the injuries Claire sustained?"

"She was in surgery for five fuckin' hours, what do you think? Ya' really think you're gona' be able to wheel her out the front door of the hospital and it'll all be grand? Fuck that noise!" _Oh shit! Need. Chair. Now. _As I slumped into the closest chair to me I noticed the sympathetic look Tig threw me before I focused back on the phone as Charlie's voice came out in a huff. "She had internal bleedin', had to have four of her ribs reset, a bullet taken out, surgery on her shoulder and the rest is just a shit tone of bruisin' and abrasions." There was a small pause before I heard Charlie give a soft hiccup and her normally hard as nails facade broke as she cried, "She nearly didn't make it, she crashed twice on the table, they had to resuscitate her."

"Shit baby, it's going to be alright. You said it yourself, Claire's strong, she's a fighter, she will pull through you hear me? Come on baby, don't cry." I barely heard Tig gently sooth Charlie as I sat frozen just staring at the phone on the table.

"Charlie," Chib's spoke slowly, "I know this is hard for ya', but can ya' tell me if Stahl is still there or has she left?"

"Not at the minute she ain't," Charlie said softly, "But she let me know the she left two cops standin' outside Claire's room and said that she'd be back when Claire wakes up."

"Wakes up?" I all but screamed the panic bubbling within me at speed. "Why, the fuck isn't she awake? What's wrong with her?"

"Ya' gota' clam down Hap'! Ya' ain't helpin' anyone if ya' fly into panic mode now killa'." I barely heard Chib's over the pounding sound that was going on in head.

"Charlie, answer me. Now!" I barked at the phone, choosing to ignore Chib's.

"They had to sedate her Hap'," Charlie stuttered out before I heard her take a deep breath to continue. "It's for her own good so they say, 'cause it is the best way for her to kick start her healin' process and some shit." I could hear Charlie's voice cracking as she spoke to me, my heart felt like it was doing the same thing but I forced myself to keep going.

"How long," I had to swallow thickly before I could continue my throat tightening as I did. "How long will Claire need to be out for?"

"They said they'd need to keep her out for 'bout the next five days and that after that they'd start to wean her off whatever it is they've got her hooked up to that knocks her out." I nodded as Charlie spoke, forgetting that she couldn't see me.

"You should come home Charlie," As I spoke I caught the surprised looks coming from Tig and Chib's, Koz was just being the dump shit he usually was and sitting silently. "You need some rest Charlie and then you can go back when they start to wake Claire up, you're not going to be able to do anything for her till then. Come back to the house you showed us, that's where were all staying. We'll see you in a couple of hours, get here safe." As I finished speaking, I stood up and grabbed the phone up off the table and ended the call before any arguments could start.

"Thank you," Tig was the first person to speak, cutting through the silence that had filled the small room.

"For what," I asked, genuinely curious as to what I had done that warranted thanks. Tig snorted at me before he answered, shaking his head at me as he did so.

"You honestly don't know what I'm talking about do you?" The confused expression I was wearing was obviously answered enough for him as he quickly continued. "You're such a dick at times! Charlie wouldn't have come back here if you hadn't given her permission to. She would have run herself into the ground first before she left Claire's side while you couldn't be there." _Oh._

"Yea, well, I didn't realise it would mean that much to you." I said honestly with a shrug, seeing I had no idea how I was meant to approach the subject of Charlie with Tig. "I'm heading back to bed; wake me up when Charlie gets here." I spoke as I moved towards the door of the living room and heading to my room. My head felt like a lead weight and I just wanted to shut out the world, if only for a little while.

"I'm goin' in there on my own Tig, stay the fuck out of it!" I woke up to the sounds of a hushed argument that was slowly growing out of control and I couldn't help myself when I let out a quiet chuckle as Tig acted like a whipped puppy.

"Why? Why do you have to go in there alone? Why can't I come in with you?" Tig moaned.

"'Cause this is 'bout Claire and its between me and Happy, just the two of us seein' I've already talked to Chib's."_Charlie's home, _I thought as I stretched my arms up over my head, the bones popping as I made my way over to the door.

"The two of you going to be done any time soon?" I asked as I opened the door revealing a shocked looking Charlie and a pissed off looking Tig.

"I thought you were asleep," Tig snapped at me, a solid glare setting across his face.

"Your wee domestic with the little Misses here woke me up," I replied with a smirk as I leant against the bedrooms door frame. "You coming in Charlie or staying in the hall?" As Charlie stepped into me room I shut the door, chuckling at the sound of Tig's low growl.

"Made yourself at home then did ya'?" Charlie asked as she looked around the room, my clothes chucked across the place and the sheets on the bed crumbled to hell.

"Cut to the chase Charlie, I'm tired of trying to keep up with small talk already. I'm not in the mood to entertain company right now." I said with a sigh as I crawled back onto the bed, resting my back against the headboard as I watched Charlie paced at the bottom of the bed. "How's Claire doing?"

"Stable," Was all the reply Charlie offered as she moved to sit on the chair across from the bed, her gaze never leaving mine as she sat.

"And..." I prompted.

"She nearly died Hap', Claire bein' stable at the minute is the best outcome anyone can hope for." Charlie said quietly as she leant her head back against the wall behind her.

"How come you don't have a record then?" I asked trying to distract myself from the image of never having Claire in my life again.

"I was never into all this shit. Didn't do the Club life at all, no guns, no drugs, no parties, I was a straight 'A' student. I met Claire at school back home and we became friends, if everythin' was all just that simply." There was a short pause and I could almost hear Charlie balancing the pros and cons of revealing more of her past to me. "All that changed when my brother became all 'bout white supremacy. Started doin' all this wild stuff that absolutely terrified me to be honest, ya' gota' understand, I was a naive little girl, completely innocent to this kinda' life." Charlie was looking dead at me now, the pain she had felt all those years ago still present in her eyes as she spoke. "My brother forced me to go to one of his meetin' with him. Fuck, the shit that I saw goin' on in the five minutes I stood frozen in the front door of that house still haunt me. It made me sick when I was that age, now, that feeling is just multiplied. I ran from that place, I ran like the devil himself was chasin' me."

"How'd Claire ended up in all of this, she help you out of there?" I asked as Charlie fell silent once again.

"Yea, she did. My brother's _friends, _they didn't like the fact I ran from them, worse yet the fact I ran from them and into the arms of SAMCRO. Long story short, shit hit the van on a monumental scale, as you've seen some of the scars I got from it, some of them are still festerin'. The Belfast charter got me out of Northern Ireland and brought me here. I repay the debt I owe them by helpin' them out when the need it. Sometimes treating people they send my way, it's never anythin' seriously messed up or that illegal, just normally patch up jobs, handin' over cash, sometimes guns and things like that. Other times though, like yesterday, that shit with my brother all comes back, knockin' on the door of whatever small bit of peace I've created for myself and every time it does, Claire's had my back, literally most o f the times." Charlie shifted in her chair, pausing in her speech and letting me get everything she'd just revealed to me to settle before she started again. "Look, the point I dug all this up is that I know the moment Claire wakes up she's gona' be askin' for ya' and I need to know you're gona' be there for her 'cause I swear to god if ya' hurt a single hair on her head I'll kill ya'. You've probably had the _talk _for Chib's, but his is out of necessity seein' she's his blood, but I owe Claire my life many times over and that debt probably wouldn't be anywhere near repaid if I kill ya' but it wouldn't stop me, true." A comfortable silence fell over Charlie and me, and as I watched her rest her head against the wall I spoke again.

"You told Tig any of this?" I asked out of concern for someone I now viewed as a friend. Charlie smiled knowingly as she answered.

"Tig seems to have deemed anythin' we have as impossible, I'm tryin' to get him over that idea and see the truth before I drop him into all of my past deeds."

"Probably be best, he'd go on a killing spree before he'd locked you up somewhere he knew was safe, you'd most likely never see anyone else again for the rest of your life." I joked causing both of us to laugh, momentarily forgetting everything, embracing a small slice of calmness for once.

"I'll work on him just you watch," Charlie said with a yawn as she stretched.

"You need to rest," I said as I watched her.

"I'll rest after we figure out how were gettin' ya' into that hospital without Stahl or the cops at Claire's bedside figurin' out who ya' are and what you're up to." Charlie spoke as she got herself more comfortable in the chair.

"Well I can't just go in with a bunch of flowers as say I'm visiting, you know that shits dangerous." I said shaking my head, no matter how much the ideal appealed to me.

"What's dangerous, you or the flowers?" Charlie asked with a smirk, her only response from me was a glare. "Ya' might have to lose the flowers but I hear they let nurses in to check on patience at these places called hospitals." Charlie's comment had a 'what the fuck' look forming on my features.

"Do I look anything like a nurse to you sweetheart?" I tossed back at her.

"Ya' would if ya' were wearin' the scrubs I lifted from the hospital before I left." _Smug git, _I thought with a chuckle as Charlie sat smirking at me from her chair across from me.

"Whatever Charlie, you still need to rest and Claire needs to wake up before anything like that can happen. Go, now, before that man of yours wears a whole in the carpet outside my door of kicks it in, I won't appreciate either just so you know." Raising an eyebrow in question at me Charlie rose from the chair and made her way silently to the door. As she wretched it open as seriously shocked looking Tig stumbled backwards raising his hands up in surrender.

"I... You... Fuck!" As I laughed at Tig's elegant etiquette he turned and stormed off down the hall and out of my line of sight.

"He's such a douche," I heard Charlie mutter to herself as she went to close the door.

"But he's your douche," I called after her, winking at her as she threw a mock glare at me. "Go rest Charlie. You can glare at me all you want to later." With that my door finally clicked shut and I was once again alone. As my stomach growled at me I decided that it was time I actually left my room and went in search of food.

"Afternoon bro'," Koz spoke from his seat on the bar stole in the kitchen.

"Where'd the food all come from?" I asked as I lifted a slice of pizza out of the box on the counter.

"I cooked," Koz said with a boyish grin.

"Bullshit," I said before taking a bite out of my slice.

"You wound me deeply you know that bro'?" Koz said with a chuckle, "Nah, Charlie brought it with her when she came in, thought we'd all be hungry."

"I think Tig found a keeper in her," I said as I went hunting for a beer in the fridge, "Where are those two anyway?"

"Don't know for sure, but after Charlie came down the stairs after Tig stormed passed me, she grabbed one of the boxes of pizza and kissed Tig full on the mouth. Next thing I heard a door banging somewhere upstairs and then you appeared. Take it those two made up or something?" Koz asked as I nodded at him.

"Yea, something like that, Chib's?" I questioned.

"Ringing the mother ship, updating them on everything that's happened on our end," Koz answered as he took a pull from the beer I handed him.

"Anything happened with them?" I asked.

"Chib's hasn't come in yet, he's out on the back porch, has been for about half an hour," Koz said with a shrug.

"So what exactly have you been up to then?" I asked distracted.

"I went through the house. You wouldn't believe some of the shit that's stored in the basement." Now that caught my attention.

"What's down there?" I asked, trying to sound casual.

"It's like a gun dealer's wet dream down there," He said, chuckling at his own joke. "Fuck, you must have caught the only girl in this world whose fetish is guns, lucky bastard."

"Where's the door to the basement," I asked, ignoring his last comment even though the urge to punch him in the face for mention Claire was near unbearable.

"First door on your right when you leave the kitchen," He answered with a one shouldered shrug. Setting my bottle of beer down, I turned and made my way out of the kitchen, only stopping when I reached the door Koz had been describing.

"Anything I need to know before I go in here?" I questioned, making sure I had all my bases covered.

"Light switch is on you left as you open the door," Koz yelled back at me. Finding the light switch was no hassle and as I descended into the basement I had to let out an appreciating whistle. "Believe me now?" Snapping my head up at the sound of Koz's voice, I spotted that him on the top stairs.

"This is an armoury," I said matter of fact, "How the hell did she get all of this in here? This is a shit tonne of weapons. It must have taken her years to gather it all."

"Shit's expensive too," Koz spoke as he walked down the rest of the stairs, "There's even protective gear, stab vests, bullet proof vests, all the usual gear."

"This has to be a safe house, there's no way this is just a hang out." I said shaking my head, "I haven't seen anything like this in years, what the hell did she think was going to happen to her?"

"That someone wanted her dead," At the sound of Charlie's voice filling the basement I was spinning where I stood to look at her as she rested at the top of the stairs.

"Going to explain that, or just stand there." I snapped as silence fell over us, my protective side over Claire flaring even though she wasn't there.

"I'm not even going to attempt to explain Claire's past," Charlie said with a snort. "I've know Claire nearly ten years and there's still some basic crap I don't know about her."

"Like what?" I challenged, trying to scavenge up any information on Claire's past that I could.

"She has a list of names on her shoulder, all family but one name, a knife has been taken to it. There's a neat line straight through the middle of it, like someone took a ruler and drew it and I'll tell you this for nothing, it ain't her mother's name." _Claire's father, _I thought sadly.

"What happened between her and her dad?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Beats me, that there is basic shit, nowhere near as complicated as some of the relationships she's got with people now, but there might be someone there who can help ya' with the story of Claire's dad, Chib's." Charlie passed before she continued in a quiet voice, "It'll do ya' no good bring up the past, especially with Claire, not until she's ready."

"Charlie!" Tig's shout had all three of our heads snapping to the door of the basement, our conversation ending instantly.

"Basement darlin'," Raising my eyebrow in question at the nickname, Charlie smirked, "Not a word you."

"What are you all doing in here?" Tig asked as he reached the top of the stairs, "And when the fuck did we get an armoury?"

"It's not an armoury, its storage," Charlie answered with a shrug.

"If this is storage, I'd hate to see what it's like when you lot go to war." Tig countered.

"True that, when Claire's awake all of us are going to need to sit down an d have a long talk about all this crap," I said as I gestured around me.

"Agreed," This time it was Chib's voice that had us all jumping in surprise and as he appeared in the door way, I noticed just how tired he looked, "But before then we all need to talk anyway, shit went down in Charming."

**There you go, hope you enjoyed it your latest instalment ^^ xo**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey, sorry for the long wait but I was on holiday for a couple of weeks without a wifi connection :( but here you go, hope you enjoy this chapter and the next one should be up soon ^^ xo**

Chapter 16

In the last two days I could count the number of things that had happened on one hand, so, in short I was losing my god damn mind with boredom.

"Juice said he'll be finished setting up all his techno crap in a couple of minutes," Koz said, interrupting my peace as he walked into my room. "I still can't believe that the retard got lost trying to get here."

"The hints in the name and I don't care," I replied without looking up at him. "I still don't see why we have to bug her room. For fuck sake, she's still being kept in a medical coma!" The apologetic expression on Koz's face had me sighing deeply. Bugging Claire's room had not been high up on my favourite things to do but I had been overruled, _after all, all I fucking am is a murderer for higher most days._

"Koz, leave us a second." The sound of a Scottish accent broke through the thick silence that had settled.

"I'm not in the mood Chib's," I sighed heavily as I watched Koz leave the room I now claimed as mine.

"You might not want to hear it brother, but I ain't givin' ya' the option." As Chib's spoke he crossed the room and sat heavily in the wicker chair across from my bed. "I know ya' don't want to have all this shit surrounding Claire. I'm right beside ya' on it, but truth is our opinion means shit when Clay decides he wants Claire watched, their beef means a whole lot more to Clay than mine, or your opinion."

"How deep does their shit run?" I asked tiredly.

"I think the only people who can answer that honestly are Claire and Clay, and we all know that those two are too stubborn to let loose even a little bit of what went down." Chib's took a moment to light up before he continued. "Charlie called while you were moping around in here, said she'll plant the bug today seeing everything seems clear. You never know Hap', maybe something good could actually come out of this. If nothing else, you can have the peace of mind knowing you can hear everything that goes on in that room."

"Since when did go looking for the silver lining in things?" I said with a hollow laugh.

"Since you become the depressed, love sick puppy that lost his favourite play toy," Chib's snapped back quickly.

"You going somewhere with this, or are you just here to needle me?" I said lowly.

"Now, now pretty boy, you play nice and I'll give you a treat." He said with a smirk.

"Fuck off," I growled as his smirk grew because of my retort.

"Charlie also told me something else when she was on the phone, the doctors talked to her." He chose that point to end his sentence there, _fucker, _my mind hissed.

"That better not be it," I barked at him, sick to the back teeth with his bullshit.

"See ya' got your voice back pup," The glare I sent his way made the asswhole smile, his scars flexing as he did so, "The doctors said if Claire's vitals say as strong as they have been today, they'll start to wake her up tomorrow morning.

"You better not be yanking my fucking chain." I growled, not letting the relief I was feeling at the news show.

"Nah wouldn't do that to you, especially when it came to Claire. "Chib's let lose a chuckle as he spoke, "Like my balls attached."

"You're an asshole, but either way I won't be able to separate you from your balls, Claire would take mine for hurting her family." _Truce made._

"Saved by my niece, fuck another person she'll have on her list to gather favours from." He said with a snort.

"So when will we know about Claire being woken up then?" I asked as I pushed myself forward down the bed until my feet hit the floor.

"Whenever Charlie tells us," He answered with a shrug.

"And how's she doing?" At my question Chib's gave a dry chuckle.

"What do ya' think? She's as pissed as hell, doesn't see why she can't stay here until Claire wakes up but Tig has her calmed and seeing some sense." He said matter of fact.

"And you say I'm the love sick puppy? He follows her around like she's holding his leash." I managed to say between fits of laughter.

"And you wouldn't be doin' the exact same thing with Claire if she weren't in the hospital bed? I bet ya' my fuckin' bike that you'd be glued so tight to her side she wouldn't be able to breathe right." _Fucker, _"So I can keep my bike then?" Chib's asked after a silence lagged between us.

"It was never a real bet to begin with." I eventually managed to force myself to say, causing Chib's to let out a deep rumble.

"So ya' want me to go explain the set up in the dining room while Juice is grabbin' somethin' to eat?" Chib's asked as he took a long drag from his cigarette.

"No, I actually want you to explain to me what went down in Charming, and don't give me the same bull story that you told everyone else." As I spoke Chib's wasn't quick enough to hide his shocked expression.

"And what give ya' that idea?" Chib's asked coolly.

"I know when people lie to me, brother or otherwise." I answered just as coolly.

"Some Irish came snoopin'," He replied simply.

"And I believe that as much as I believe in Santa Claus, now answer me properly!" I ordered, tired of all the dancing around.

"Nothing dramatic went down so get the stick outa' your arse," Chib's growled, throwing a glare my way as well. "Remember who you're talkin' to boy, anyway some Irish came round askin' questions, there was a throw down and they were dealt with."

"Bodies?"

"Three. All burnt and unidentifiable, that I can promise."

"Witnesses?"

"None, mind you, they don't know if there were any others hangin' around."

"So, what's the plan?"

"After Juice is finished here we have to send him back and be sharp about it, he has some street recon to do, Clay orders." Chib's said the last part without looking away from me.

"You're telling me that the only people the club has on this, is the retard?" I snapped.

"You're a dumb shit if ya' believe that." Chib's growled, "Anyway, one thing Clay's learnt since he's met Claire is be cautious every time an Irishman's in town."

"Clay wouldn't know what happened if Claire let go of everything she knew on him, he'd be buried so kick he wouldn't know what hit him." I let out with a deep sigh.

"True that brother, but between you and I, Claire loves toying with Clay too much to let that happen." I chuckled at his reasoning, nodding in agreement.

"Get some sleep, I'll make sure the retard gets out of town without gettin' lost," I waved him off as I crawled back up the bed but before my head reached the pillow Chib's poked his head back round my door. "Koz is on look out tonight, you already pulled two nights in a row, we decided ya' need a break." As I began to drift of I decided that I couldn't let another day slip by like the last three had, tomorrow things had to change or I was going to go mad for the seemingly never ending boredom.

"Morning," Charlie said _way _too chirpily for this time in the morning as I managed to drag my ass through the kitchen.

"You on something I don't know about?" I asked, but there was no real menace behind it, our truce still held.

"Just coffee, and there's a fresh pot." She said smiling as she handed me a clean mug, nodding my thanks at her I turned and made my way over to the other side of the kitchen.

"Why you up this early for? Don't you usually head to the hospital in like another two hours? Could have had at least another hours sleep in that time." Charlie usually headed to the hospital for the afternoon visiting hours as they were the longest, and seeing they didn't start till one, we never usually seen her up before noon.

"Already been this morning suga', the hospital had me come in early. Did you know the morning visiting hours open at half six? Ya' wouldn't catch we dead there at that time." She replied with a shrug as she drank deeply from her own mug, not seeming to notice her own rambling.

"Look, Charlie, I'm just awake be kind." I spoke with a sigh.

"They needed me there while they stopped the drugs that were keeping Claire sedated, you know in case of a medical emergency." I froze mid poor, my grip tightening around the handle of the coffee pot, "And don't freak out, everything went fine."

"Meaning," I pushed as I set the coffee pot back.

"Meaning, that if everything goes according to plan, Claire should wake up in a couple of hours and yes, I'll be returning to the hospital in a couple of hours before you ask." She said as she placed her mug in the sink before looking at me expectantly.

"What do we do till then?" I asked lost.

"Wait," She answered simply. "You would be best going back to sleep, you look like hell."

"You aren't a beauty queen either," I mumbled, interrupting her.

"I'll wake you before I leave. I need to find something anyway before I go." And with that Charlie left the kitchen to look for god knows what, I really didn't care. Claire was safe and Charlie's useless early morning babbling had ended so, following Charlie's advice, I headed back up to my pit for some more sleep, stopping only briefly to explain to Chib's what Charlie had told me.

"Yeo Hap' rise and shine," The sound of hammering followed my jolt awake.

"I said wake him, not pound on the door to his room!" _Charlie. _If it was her yelling that meant Tig had to be behind the rest of the noise.

"It's the quickest way to get his ass up," Tig spoke defending himself.

"And the quickest way to get shot," I rumbled, my voice still full of sleep as I pulled the door open to see Charlie and Tig about to slip into another petty fight.

"Fantastic," Charlie said while rolling her eyes at the situation. "The reason I woke you was 'cause I found something's that might help ya' forge the hospital pass."

"What did you get?" I asked as I stretched, not moving from my leaning post on the door frame.

"There's fresh coffee in the kitchen, can't we discuss this there?" Charlie asked hopefully but on seeing my expression she decided to continue where we stood. _Coffee junkie, _I thought with a snort.

"These are some of the passes and shit Claire forged; I thought they might come in handy when you're doing yours." Claire spoke as she handed me over a shoe box filled with different fake ID's all with pictures of Claire on them.

"Claire did all this herself?" I hissed.

"What do ya' expect her to do, the whole Belfast Charter cut her loose, cut all ties with her. She had to start from scratch," Charlie snarled at me like a mother dog protecting her pup.

"I didn't mean it like that Charlie, I was just surprised. Fuck, I'm surprised daily by Claire and she's still fucking unconscious!" I defended myself honestly.

"Look ... I just," Charlie shrugged in confusion before taking a deep breath and starting again. "You remember that conversation we had? Well, I'd defend Claire till my death. She's the only family I have, so she's a touchy subject."

"If we call it a truce, will you tell me how Claire forged these?" I asked gently, trying not to provoke Charlie again.

"Aye, and she just did them here, did a couple for me to but I've no idea where she keeps all her gear." I could see the honestly in Charlie's eyes as she spoke.

"This is Claire's house right?" I asked after awhile.

"Yep," Charlie said, emphasising the 'p'.

"Well if this is Claire's house, she has to have her own room right?" I said hopefully.

"Third floor on the left, but I don't see how that'll help ya'." Charlie answered on reflex.

"Why you say that?" I pushed.

"'Cause the door to Alex's room is always locked." Charlie said with a shrug.

"Take me to her room." I ordered pushing away from the door frame I'd been leaning on the whole time.

"Hell no, I ain't letting you break into her room," _Shit. _Charlie stood glaring at me hands on hips.

"I won't break in, I swear." I said as I held my hand up in mock surrender, the look Charlie sent me before she turned and made her way to the kitchen was one that promised pain. _Probably went after that coffee, _I thought distracted for a moment.

"She'll kill you if you do it," Koz's voice sounded from behind me.

"I'm willing to take that risk," I answered honestly.

"And why would that be?" He asked.

"Because I needed to get into that hospital room like yesterday," I growled at him without turning to look at him.

"Then I suggest that you don't break in," _Tig._

"And just what the hell do you suggest I do, walk through walls?" I barked at him as he relaxed against the wall opposite me.

"You don't have that gift killa'," He said with a chuckle, but noticing my glare he started again. "All I'm saying is you could just use some lock picks and jimmy it open."

"You want to go against your girlfriends wishes?" I watched the flicker that ran across Tig's face as my words sank in.

"Charlie chose me, not the perfect man and anyway, if we do this right and slam the door hard on exit, all the locks should slide back into place no one will be the wiser." All of his words made sense but I could see the one flaw in his plan.

"You got any lock picks handy then?" I questioned, looking from Tig to Koz then back again.

"It's kinda' on the Sergeant at Arms kit list," Koz said from his perch up against the wall.

"That's a yes," My gaze flickered back to Tig who was holding out a small black case, no bigger than his palm. "The douche in the corner needs to learn to answer questions clearly."

"Let's go then," I said over my shoulder as I made my way up the stairs towards Claire's room.

"Which one is her room?" Tig asked as he drew level with me at the top of the stairs.

"Charlie said the one on the left," I said as I tilted my head towards the door I figured was hers.

"Right then, let's get to work," Tig spoke as he knelt down in front of the door.

"You think you're doing the right thing?" Koz's voice sounded from beside.

"When have I ever known that?" I threw back.

"We're through," Tig's voice sounded, ending mine and Koz's conversation.

"Great," I said pushing past Tig and into the room. "Shit."

"What?" Tig and Koz sounded in unison.

"The hell is this?" Tig asked, as I walked further into the room in silence.

"Why does Claire need all these maps?" Koz asked openly.

"Most of these are all state maps, there are a couple of channel maps, you know for ship crossings, here wait, these ones are from the border up." Tig said as he started lifting the maps that litter the small desk that sat in the corner of the room, flicking through them as he spoke.

"Up where," I forced myself to ask, already knowing the answer but wishing I didn't.

"Canada," He answered me as he turned to look me in the eye, we both knew why those maps were locked in this room.

"I found her forging stuff, also got a name," Turning I found Koz bent over a set of drawers.

"Let me see," I said as I shoved Koz out of the way, so I could flip through some of the stuff. I managed to recognise most of it, so I knew all the stuff I needed to forge a hospital pass was there, including the name Koz had mentioned. "You know this name?" I looked at Koz, but a shake of his head told me he didn't.

"What's the name?" Tig said as he set down the maps he had been holding.

"Rowan McAllister," The _'you've got to be fucking me face' _Tig was now wearing told me everything I needed to know. "Who is he?"

"I thought Charlie said Claire cut all ties with the Irish?" He choked out.

"Who. Is. He?" I growled at him.

"The Belfast Sergeant at Arms," There was a pause while Tig pulled at his hair, finally stopping long enough to look me in the eye, "The same Sergeant at Arms Claire got shot for trying to save."

"We need to talk to Charlie, now!" I barked out as I started my exit, pounding down the stairs not caring who followed. "Charlie!"

"Dining room," A voice answered me, following it I soon found Charlie sitting in the middle of the dining room looking at the laptop sitting in the middle of the table.

"Want to tell me about Rowan McAllister?" I growled at her.

"Killa' calm down," I heard Koz say between breaths from running after me, Tig right on his heels.

"Hap' don't do something you'll regret later," He said.

"He's a friend of hers, an old contact, what's it to you?" Charlie spoke, ignoring the warning look that Tig sent her.

"She took bullets for him; I want to know who the hell he is!" She didn't even flinch at the sound of my voice, the same voice that had had made grown men piss themselves in fear because of. If I hadn't been on the verge of killing her for answers, brother's girl and all, I might have been proud of her.

"Put that little primal act back in its box there's something you need to listen too," She spat at me before fiddling with the laptop, suddenly Claire's voice filled the room.

"I didn't realise I was allowed visitors, being cuffed to a hospital bed must have given me the wrong impression." Claire's voice sounded tired, and my heart ached at the sound all I wanted was her in my arms, away from everything else, especially that hospital.

"Well sometimes, looks can be deceiving," The sound of a deep, obviously Irish male voice flooded the room.

"That lines meant to be for strangers, not people and places ya' already know." The fight that I admired in Claire was still clear in her voice, and I felt pride swell within me upon hearing it.

"What landed you in this familiar setting then?" The male voice was full of concern.

"Cut the crap, why ya' here?" Claire growled weakly.

"A concerned party called me," The male voice answered calmly, refusing to rise to Claire's obvious anger.

"Last time I checked ya' weren't on my emergency contact list, who called?" Claire asked again, this time remaining calm.

"An ATF agent by name of Stahl if I remember correctly," The voice answered.

"That bitch!"

"So you're friends then?" The voice interrupted with a chuckle.

"Bite me!" Claire snapped.

"Not my taste sweetheart," The growling that filled the dining room was from me this time, the guy who was talking to Claire was a dead man.

"What do ya' want? Ya' wouldn't have flown all this way if ya' didn't want something." Claire said jadedly.

"Can't I just be concerned 'bout your welfare?" The voice asked with an innocent tone.

"That's what phone calls are for," Claire said quietly but I knew the guy wouldn't have missed it in the small hospital room Charlie had said Claire was staying in, but he stayed quiet. "Look if you've come here to finish the job, just do it, I'm sick of your bullshit."

"You might think I'm a cold, heartless bastard Claire, but even I have my limits and what you're describing has surpassed them." The voice said as if he was commenting on some normal mundane topic like the weather.

"Then what the hell do you want? 'Cause you sure as hell ain't beneficial to my healing environment Da'!" _No, fucking way!_

**You know the drill, review and let me know what you think ^^ thanks for reading xo**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

"We were never beneficial for each other Claire," The sound of Claire's father's deep chuckle flooded the dining room through the laptop speakers.

"Well that sure as hell wasn't my fault, at least I tried!" Claire growled in defence.

"O yes, 'casue getting shot at the age of twelve was oh so bloody helpful." There was a cold, bitter tone in the Belfast president's voice now.

"You really wana' bring that up Da'? 'Cause it's a long and twisted road if ya' do." I could imagine the look of anger on Claire's face as she spoke, _if looks could kill, _I chuckled.

"Your brothers send their love, little Molly even said she'd pray for her aunty." As Claire's father spoke, his comment confused me. _Why did he bring up her brothers?_

"You're a bastard you know that?!" Claire spat, I could heard the venom flooding her words.

"I've never denied it," I could imagine the smug expression spreading over the Belfast presidents face as I listened even though I'd never seen the bastards face before, _maybe that should change_.

"True that, you just deny to what extreme you are." Claire said with an exhausted sigh, "Look what do you need with me, no games and no bullshit, just straight up tell me?!"

"There's been a rumour floating round that our good friend Mr. O'Phelan might have been caught up in a little accident." _Down to business it was then._

"How small was this _little accident_?" Claire asked playing coy.

"Truth be told, I've got no idea."

"A phone call could have sorted this out," Claire said calmly before continuing, "Well I'm sure, god willing and all that he's still breathing." The chuckle that left her was full of tension.

"If god was truly willing, he'd be pushing daisy by now." A small chuckle escaped Claire at her father's words before she answered.

"Well then, I'm sure there'll be more daisy's in the world then." It wasn't happiness that filled her words at confirming the death of O'Phelan, more relief that he couldn't continue his run of destruction.

"Here's hoping." Claire's father said, he voice sounding as if he were praying rather than having a conversation.

"You should be going." Claire spoke after a moment's pause, one of peace rather than the anger that flared within her earlier.

"And why would that be?" Her father questioned in response.

"'Cause I know as well as you do, this was never a social visit. Go home Da', you're more use there and ya' got what you came for." _Which was?_

"I'm glad you're ok." An indignant snort came through the laptop speakers at those words.

"If only I could take that sentiment the way it was meant to be, go Da' you have things in this world to do that will forever be more important than the daughter you'd rather forget about." The malice that seeped out of Claire's words had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.

"You were always too much like your mother." Claire's father said with a sigh.

"Yet I don't sit back and let you tell me what I can and can't know," There was an awkward pause, "And I'm still breathing because of that small difference."

"Don't bring her death into this," Was the only response given.

"Then don't tell me I'm too much like my mother! I loved her, you were meant to love her, yet you lead her straight to her death!" I could tell Claire was slowly losing control and falling more into the rage she obviously felt.

"You can blame me as much as you like..." He was cut off before he could say anymore.

"I will 'cause it was your bloody fault! You should have told her it was dangerous to go there, but instead like always you hid it from her and she paid for your mistake with her life!" Claire growled out, cutting off her father's attempt at his own defence.

"I don't have to listen to this I'm leaving." I could hear the metal of the hospital chair scraping across the ground, the screech distorting the feed slightly.

"Thank Christ for that, you're actually doing something right for once!" There was a jingle as Claire moved around on the bed, the cuffs hitting the metal frame of the bed.

"I did right by you lot when you were growing up, don't forget that!"

"No! Rowan did well by us when we were growing up, you sat back and watched!" As I listened to the argument that was playing out in front of me the name _Rowan _had my attention focusing quickly, trying to figure out what this man had to be responsible for.

"You'd rather take a bullet for him than me wouldn't ya'?! Even though I'm flesh and blood to you," Claire's father growled furiously.

"He'd deserve to be saved, better than the man that disowned his flesh and blood because of his pride!" As soon as the words were out of Claire's mouth, a bang echoed through the speakers.

"I think you should leave now sir," _Was that a nurse? _"Claire you need to calm down, in order for your body to heal properly you need to be relaxed, sir you are not helping with Claire's healing process." _Fuck!_

"Like this runt could ever do anything properly, I'm out!" The sound of clothes rustling and a muted thud followed the irate voice of Claire's father.

"What the hell is the Belfast charter president doing here?" Tig finally asked as Charlie muted the calming voice of Claire's nurse. "Happy?"

"What," I replied in a daze, still trying to get my head around what the fuck could have caused the rift between Claire and her father. _Chib's, I needed Chib's._

"You aren't replying to anything I'm saying," Tig replied, confusion clear on his face.

"I need to talk to Chib's," I answered quickly as I turned to leave the room.

"He's asleep Hap'," I heard Charlie calling after me as my feet hit the first steps on the staircase. I pounded up the first two sets of stairs quickly, not giving a shit about how much noise I was making because there was only one person asleep at the minute and that fucker was getting up now.

"Chib's," I growled loudly as I slammed his door opening, not caring as I heard the wood crack as it collided with the wall behind it.

"Jesus Christ." Chib's yelled out in shock as he woke. I could see him grabbing for his gun that he'd placed under his pillow, as he clambered quickly into a seated position on his bed, "The fuck Hap'?!"

"You are going to tell me now what the problem is between Claire and her father before I end up getting another smiley because of your dumb ass!" I threatened, not even worrying about the glock now held tightly in his hands.

"What happened?" Chib's asked, ignoring my threat like it was an empty one. _It really fucking wasn't!_

"He showed up in her hospital room, now start fucking speaking!" The conversation was going to end one of two ways, Chib's dead or my question answered.

"He is her father Happy; he's allowed to visit his daughter while she's in hospital." Chib's commented as he got himself comfortable on the bed, never setting his gun down though I noticed.

"You know that's bullshit even without me having to tell you," I growled at him, my temper simmering.

"Why should I tell you Claire's past, it isn't my story to tell."

"I need to make sure that she's safe, she's my only concern in this whole thing."

"She's cuffed to a fucking hospital bed Hap', what is she really going get up to?!" _Fair point._

"We both know that Claire's cuffed to a hospital bed with the ATF constantly around her is not the safest place for her. Have you seen what's in her room upstairs? There's enough shit up there to lock her away for smuggling!"

"It's what she's been brought up to do! Claire probably knows she's more than likely going to end up back in prison." The finality in his voice scared me.

"I don't give to shit's, I don't want her to go back inside!" _Let's just fool yourself there Happy, anyone in this life spends more time in prison than out of it. _

"And knowing what has gone on in her past will not help you with that!"

"How much danger is she in, if her dad is stateside?"

"Depends on who told him where she was," Chib's answered with a shrug.

"Stahl," I answered flatly.

"Then none," He spoke calmly.

"How can that be possible?" I was genuinely lost now.

"Stahl will want to know what Claire has done to end up in hospital, she won't be trying to tie any loose ends together, that would be done after she'd pulled Claire on something larger."

"Jimmy." I asked, some things falling into place.

"Exactly but it wasn't Claire who killed him."

"Claire would never grass on Charlie." I reasoned.

"Most of the people Claire is associated with all believe that Charlie is someone you go to when you need fixed up, even a favour if you're desperate but never if you want someone dead."

"Which means there is nothing on Charlie?!" _Not Claire._

"Exactly so as long as Claire keeps saying she has no memory of what happened, which she will, no one will ever know what went down. There'll be rumours but no one will know the truth, Claire will stay out of jail and Charlie's name will be kept of the record."

"You knew it would play out this way, didn't you?!"

"Not until you woke me up telling me her Da' had come visit, never realised Stahl would go so far as to leak her own information to try and get somewhere with her investigation, proves she's desperate." _Nothing like a crazy, desperate bitch after the one person you're trying to look after especially if they have a badge._

"You're never going to tell me are you?" I asked finally.

"No matter how many times you threaten me Hap', it ain't my story to tell." He said with a sly grin, knowing he'd won.

"If she ends up in shit because of this, I'm blaming you."

"That's fine with me," He said with a shrug, "'Cause it won't be ending like that."

"I need to get into that hospital." I said finally, after silence had filled the room.

"You need a security pass to get clearance into the room they're holding Claire in." Chib's replied passively as he reached for his smokes.

"That's where I need your help." The look that passed across his face was genuine surprise now.

"So you wait till after you threaten to kill me before you ask that?" He said with a laugh.

"I need to know if you share Claire's skill at forging."

"I can work it if I have an original otherwise I'm no help, Claire got the skills at making up complete originals." Chib's answered after taking a long drag from his cigarette.

"I have some."

"Where did you get samples?" He asked, looking at me curiously.

"Does it matter?" I asked.

"Happy..." He growled at me.

"Look I broke into her room upstairs, don't have a go at me we needed this shit." I argued, standing my ground, _I needed this._

"No, you needed it."

"So?" I answered, not denying anything my head wasn't already saying for a change.

"She's going to be so pissed with you when she finds out you raided her room."

"We didn't move anything, just looked threw some things, lifted some charts. Tig and Koz will back me up."

"You let them two in there?!" He said with a chuckle.

"What?" _What else have I managed to fuck up now without even realising?!_

"Nothing, just I know how much she hates people digging threw her shit, you're fucked when she gets out," He paused, a rueful smile spreading across his face as he did. "Hope you like staying in the dog house brother."

**This wasn't a very action filled chapter but I needed to fill in the gap about the phone call with Claire's father. The next chapter will be more drama filled I promise lol xo**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hope you enjoy, sorry it has been so long!**

**I own nothing except Claire, Charlie and my version of the Irish president.**

**xo**

Chapter 18

"Fuck!" Glancing over at Chib's a chuckle escaped me before I could control it, he had been cursing all morning since he had sat down at the breakfast bar to forge the hospital pass I needed. "Boy ya' continue laughing at me and I'll force this pass so far down ya' throat you'll be blue before ya' hit the floor."

"Having difficulties?" I asked, secretly hoping his mistake didn't cause to long a delayed.

"I haven't forged anythin' for near fifteen years," Chib's growled as he once again hunched himself over, a new pen grasped firmly in his left hand as he went to work on fixing whatever had gone wrong. It was a strange sight, seeing a sleep deprived, burley biker working in a kitchen that belonged in a housewife's wet dream. "Has Charlie got in touch yet?"

"Nope," I replied quickly, lifting my phone to check the time. "She should still be in with Claire but visiting times close in about twenty minutes, she should be in touch soon." After the conversation between Claire and her father six days ago, Charlie was determined to never leave Claire's side unless forced out by the doctors themselves. Chib's had been fighting with the hospital pass for the whole morning without much of a break, the stress from the work clear on his face. _He'll have even more greys by the time he finished this favour for you, _my mind reminded me.

"You want something to drink?" I called over as I headed over to the fridge pulling out a bottle of water. Tig's fear of Charlie had resulted in no beer being bought on the last grocery run. As I brought the plastic bottle to my mouth the shrill ring of my mobile sounded throughout the kitchen. "Happy," I answered it with a growl.

"Get to that laptop now," Charlie's blunt words started, "Stahl's back." The line went dead after and I signalled to Chib's to follow me as I walked towards the laptop which was still set up on the dining room table.

"Tig! Koz! Get your asses in here now! The ATF bitch is back!" I hollered as I started typing away on the keyboard, Chib's lowering himself into one of the chairs surrounding the table as the other two barraged in through the door. D_ump shits_, my mind hissed before the crackle of the laptop speakers caused us all to go silent.

"Good afternoon Miss McLaughlin," The voice of Stahl filtering through laptop speakers had all of us freezing in the kitchen. Ignoring this was the first time I had ever heard Claire's surname I continued to listen silently, "How are you feeling today?"

"Like I got shot and broke four ribs," Claire's monotone voice told me she was closing down, _preparing herself for interrogation,_ I rationalised and I shouldn't have felt pride at her skill to do so.

"Tut tut, I was just trying to be friendly but if you want to get down to business we'll skip the pleasantries." Stahl paused for a moment and the sound of papers being shuffled could be heard, no-one in the room dared breathe in fear of missing something. "You have quite an impressive criminal record for someone so young, seems you just skipped the petty crimes and decided to play with the murders." _Um, what? _The same sickness I had felt when Claire had told me about her bike, how she didn't want _another one to end up gettin' filled full of bloody bullet holes_ started to surface again.

"Think you'll find I didn't jump to murder, pretty sure I tried my hand at smuggling first," Claire said with a snort, still nothing in her tone giving way to her emotions.

"Gun smuggling at 18, even in Northern Ireland, that is still a big step up from other petty crimes." Stahl rationalised and my brain spun, chancing a look at Chib's the flinch that ran across his face told me that story was one not to push up on.

"Well ya' seem to know me so well, hardly think an agent is capable of profiling me but do continue," The teasing tone in Claire's voice had my gut clenching, _this could end badly_. "I've been unconscious and cuffed to a bed for days even though I am the victim in all this, so some entertainment would be a welcomed change."

"I'd hardly describe you as a victim."

"That's where you're wrong agent, there's no incriminating evidence for you to lawfully justify cuffing me to this bed but I've let that slip seeing I'm hardly going anywhere in my condition. That doesn't mean your time isn't running out to connected me to whatever you've dreamt up in that head of yours does it?"

"You think you're clever but remember you are the daughter of a very wanted man." Stahl's voice continued, full of judgement and disgust.

"A man you leaked information to," Claire challenged back.

"Ah so you aren't as stupid as the bikers you hang out with," A cold chuckle from Stahl sounded. "You don't realise how much we know, Claire Dara McLaughlin born 11th June 1986, the youngest of five. You're brother's all have healthy criminal records too, only two of them are married while Philip and Connor's records have numerous assault charges pending."

"You know our records and the fact I've a family, you took my driver's licence when I came in a background check could have flagged all those markers." Claire replied, boredom colouring her tone of voice.

"True, but a background check wouldn't have told me that you haven't been home in sixteen months or that daddy dearest disowned you." Stahl said smugly.

"Woop fuckin' woop I'm outa' his will, there ain't no love lost between my father and me." Claire sneered, "You should have figured that out before you brought him here to try and tease whatever information you wanted out of me. Mind you from what you're telling me both of your searches are missing one vital bit of information." My head spun painfully, keeping up with Claire's life sometimes felt like being on a roller coaster.

"No, I'm sure it still hurts every time he calls you though asking for a favour to save the club, kill this threat to the club or be this charter's errand girl." Stahl tried to imitate an Irish accent, it was mildly funny but I was in no mood to laugh. "He treats you like a whore he has wrapped round his little ringer? I'm sure that pisses you off to no end, you are the princess after all and what have I missed Claire?"

"I'm sure it fells as shit as every time you have to sleep with your boss to prove you ain't gay," Stahl's startled challenged was cut off as Claire continued. "Next time you check out a nurses ass, least pretend to do it subtly." _That's your old lady, pure fire_, my mind smiled as Claire proved she wasn't the only one profiling her opponent. "You forgot agent that I am a registered American citizen, so I'd be careful how far you push this case 'cause I doubt your bosses would appreciate a phone call from my layer saying you harassed a defenceless citizen with no evidence." _When the hell did she have time to become an American citizen, let alone get one with her record? _I looked at Chib's, his brow was so furrowed that I felt my assumption that he didn't know either was valid.

"Your recorded is a long list of prison, gun smuggling, assault, attempted murder and connections to a known criminal organisation," Stahl growled. "Your citizenship rights are revoked in this case."

"Pity you have no evidence," Claire continued in a calm voice, "Ya' gona charge me and offer me a deal, get me to tell ya' how I got shot and rat the people involved. I think ya' need to walk away, 'cause you're about to enter shit creak without a paddle. Get evidence and then come back to me, I have no memory of what happened, it is medically supported seeing the amount of time I was unconscious for." Claire was covering all her bases, making sure only one version of her story was repeated.

"You tell me where Jimmy O'Phlean is, who was involved in his disappearance and who shot you, I can promise you witsec protection. A new name, full time protection until the trial and a clean slate afterwards," Stahl was pulling at straws, _everyone knows witsec is only a prolonged death sentence, _my mind reminded me. I had killed too many people for the club who were meant to be protected by witsec to ever believe Stahl's words.

"Didn't realise he was missing so I'll be no help sorry," Claire's monotone voice was back and my heart clenched. "You weren't listening to the conversion between me and my Da'? Find that hard to believe agent but I'm sure ya' will have already heard I had no connection to him. After all what would Jimmy want with me? I'm in exile from my home he wouldn't use me as a connection, I'm spoiled goods, I'm not trust worthy."

"But he was blackmailing you're father?" Stahl was scraping the barrel with that bit of information. Jimmy blackmailed all his business connection, the son's had been proof of that before.

"My Da' makes a lot of enemies from day to day. I haven't been home in sixteen months like you said, how am I meant to know all of them?" A sickly sweet innocent voice sounded, I shivered this wasn't the Claire I fell for she was playing Stahl like a cat did with a mouse.

"How do you justify it to yourself?" A disappointed sign sounded from Stahl.

"Justify what?"

"Dragging innocents into this mess you've created," Stahl explained, "What has Charlotte to do with all this? Is it ok to drag her into this investigation but protect your uncle, Philip Trelford and his 'brothers'?" The loathing in Stahl's voice wasn't lost on either of us sitting around the dining table listening to her words float out of the laptop. We had caused the worst of Stahl's character to come to the surface due to every time we pissed on her case or cut every one of her plans short, _there's nothing like a woman scorned after all_.

"My uncle and his brothers are part of a motorcycle club. They are enthusiasts what of it?" Claire asked, playing along.

"Alex Tragger, Happy Louman and a Herman Kozik have all been spotted in the next city over with your uncle don't fuck with me, I don't like being played" Stahl spat.

"Seeing you're so into bikers you'll already be aware they are part of the mother charter. I'm exiled remember, why would they be here for me?" Claire's question dared Stahl to oppose her but she continued quickly, "I also highly doubt ya' don't like getting played with." I could see the defiant smirk that would be covering Claire's face, the chuckle from the guys caused some of the tension that had been forming to leave the room. "Charlotte's not my old lady. No pillow talk happens between us, sorry to ruin the image in your head but she is so far outa' the loop you've no hope of gettin' anything outa' her." Claire's words proved to annoy one who was part of the son's or at least a friend club, that Charlotte was not privy to all the big decisions and not to use her as leverage.

"She's a doctor right, that's a lot to lose for the sake of a friend." Stahl's voice sounded bored.

"What did you threaten her with," Claire's voice bristled. S_hit_, she can't lose it now I panicked. "Ya' go after her and you'll ruin that great reputation of yours, mind you if you're here harassing a patient with amnesia on a hunch you've already reached the bottom of someone's shit list." I felt my panic slow at Claire's words, Charlotte may be a soft spot but my girl was still in control of her temper.

"Be careful there Miss McLaughlin, your true colours are starting to show."

"My colours haven't even come close to breaking though," Claire defended. "This conversation isn't being recorded and ya' sure aren't wired, show anymore cleavage and I'd think you were desperate. Ya' have no evidence that I gained my injury though illegal activities. I have no recollection of getting beaten, shot, calling Charlotte from the side of the road or arriving at the hospital. There are no connections to me and the disappearance of Jimmy O'Phean that ya' have questioned me about and so far ya' have only harassed a doctor with a clean record. How many days have ya' been in this town in the back end of nowhere and discovered nothing? If I were you, I'd have started by begging speech. You're gona' need it when your boss rings asking for answers and dangling you're job in front of ya' when you have nothing to but _theories _to tell him." The cheering that came from Tig and Koz had me laughing out loud, nearly missing Stahl's next words.

"You bitch," She hissed.

"Tell your boss I said high, pity you ain't a good enough lay to keep ya' in his good graces. Even he needs to balance his books, make sure his agents can still produce results." The victory in Claire's voice filled me once again with pride, _my girl is fearless_, I thought with a smile.

"This isn't over," Stahl might have spoke the words clearly but there was no strength in them and they were followed shortly by the sound of the door closing.

"Fucking hell, I knew Claire was dynamite but damn!" Koz was still chuckling as the conversation between Claire and Stahl finished.

"If that's what she's like in a fight, I wonder what she's like in between the sheets," Tig announced, sending a wink in my direction. Before I even had a chance to defend Claire Chib's was around the table and backhanding Tig across the head.

"Thought you had your own girl Tig, don't make me tell Charlie what you just said brother," It was now my turn to smirk triumphantly. "I'm going for a smoke, the lot of you are giving me a headache," Chib's growled as he headed to the back porch.

"Miss McLaughlin, agent Stahl wanted me to let you know she would be gone for a couple of days and she'd be back to talk to you then," The nurses voice caused the laptop speakers to sound again and had my full attention.

"You're a nurse, shouldn't have to be that damn woman's messenger!" Claire's voice grumbled.

"I'm glad to give you that message, that woman freaks me out she stares at all me like I'm meet." The nurse's words had everyone, including Claire, chuckling again.

I was sitting on the back porch turning the recently finished hospital pass Chib's had given me in my hands as Charlie sat down heavily in the chair beside me, "When you heading back to the hospital?"

"The next visiting slot is four, why?" She answered distractedly.

"I'm going with you Chib's finished the pass," I stated as I handed Charlie the piece of laminated paper.

"Damn," Charlie whistled impressed by the forgery. "Now I know where Claire gets her talent from! This is good Claire's been trying to teach me for years and I'm nowhere near this standard."

"Claire's family seems to have skills the rest of us can only dream off," I commented.

"Her family have been through more than the rest of us think we could handle," Charlie paused for a minute, debating whether she should continue or not I guessed. "Their family was ripped apart by Jimmy and his bosses, yet they were all still under his thumb, never given a chance to get free. SAMBEL and Jimmy have caused more rifts between them all than I think anyone realises. Chib's was helped out while Claire fled, I bump into some of Claire's cousins that have come stateside for the same reasons the two of them left, you pick sides or you're forced to leave in their family. I hope you realise what you're walking into if you want a life with Claire. I was told that old ladies are given a bit of advice, that if they don't think they can love the man and learn to accept the club they need to cut all ties early. I'm not her blood but I'm going to give you the same advice, if you don't think you can handle her past you need to break up whatever this is now, it'll kill both of you if you continue down this road otherwise." Charlie's voice was calmed the whole time she spoke, her love for Claire obvious. She stared at me for a moment before silently getting up, making sure I heard her words before leaving me to my own thoughts.

"Fuck," I muttered out loud to myself, c_an I do this, _I questioned internally. The gut wrenching pain I felt every time something dangerous and potentially life ending was mentioned with regards to Claire and her past was a warning, a warning of what I didn't yet know. One thing I did know was that when I walked out of that hospital room tonight I would have an answer for Charlie, one way or another.


End file.
